Energy Services Programs
Project Profile: Brooklyn Municipal Building
Since 1955, the 15-story, 464,000-square-foot Brooklyn Municipal Building and adjacent four-story Borough Hall have provided a diverse array of municipal services for Kings County residents.
When a single chiller plant providing cooling to the two structures since 1972 showed signs of becoming too costly to maintain and operate, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services turned to the Power Authority for assistance in upgrading the equipment.
NYPA contractors installed two 800-ton and one 400-ton high-efficiency electric centrifugal chillers, 2,000-ton cooling towers with automatic filtration systems and pumping systems to satisfy cooling loads for both buildings.
The project also includes a state-of-the-art building energy management system. Data fed into a new central monitoring computer provides real-time information on the status of all chillers, pumps, variable-frequency drives and auxiliary systems. Ancillary equipment includes a refrigerant leak-detection system and automated water controls integrated into the municipal building’s ventilation system.
The upgrades have resulted in energy savings of about $53,000 each year. The county realizes additional savings from reduced maintenance costs, and the new chillers utilize environmentally friendly, non-ozone-depleting refrigerants.
NYPA, which managed and provided upfront funding of $6 million for the six-month project, will recover its costs from the energy savings. The installation is one of about 267 energy services projects NYPA has completed at Kings County public schools, hospitals and other public facilities—including the Brooklyn Central Library, Brooklyn Museum, Woodhull Hospital, Kingsborough Community and New York City Technical College—with annual energy savings of more than $11 million.
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