Just read that old office buildings in New York City are a huge hidden source of carbon

I was looking at a report from a local climate group about building emissions in my city. It said that over 70% of the big office buildings here were built before 1980. Those old places leak heat and cool air like crazy because the windows and insulation are so bad. The report said fixing up just one of those big towers can cut its energy use by a quarter. I always thought about cars and factories, but it makes sense. All that wasted energy from drafty windows adds up across a whole skyline. Has anyone here been part of a project to make an old building more efficient? I'm curious how it actually gets done.

3 comments

3 Comments

sage30823d ago

Oh man, that's so true. My old apartment was in a pre-war building and the windows were basically just decorative, lol. You could feel a breeze inside when it was windy out. They finally did a retrofit a few years back, sealing all the windows and adding some new insulation in the walls. The heating bill actually went down the next winter, which was wild. It's crazy how much energy just pours out of those old places.

iris92723d ago

How much did your bill drop, @sage308?

tara64223d ago

That's a huge win for @sage308. I read about a city program that gave grants for those exact retrofits. They said some buildings saw heating costs cut by almost a third after sealing up the old windows and adding attic insulation. Makes you wonder how much money and energy just gets wasted.