With its move to the new Renzo Piano-designed offices on Eighth Avenue, The New York Times Company has become partially energy independent with an in-house, natural gas-powered co-generation plant that provides as much as 40 percent of its electricity. It also provides a substantial amount of heat for the building — and air conditioning for the data center.
David Thurm, VP and Chief Information Officer of The New York Times Company told me in this interview that the in-house power generating capabilities have a number of environmental and cost benefits — as well as protection against blackouts. He also explained how energy is saved at the new complex with an air conditioning system which forces cold air from the floors.
Power consumption by information industry companies are a growing problem of cost and sustainability. Just a few hours ago, HP announced an ambitious plan to reduce electrical consumption in PC’s by 25 percent by 2010.
Update: Here’s a story the environmental aspects of the structure in Building magazine.
— Andy Plesser
Disclosure: This video is part of a series of documentary videos created for The New York Times Company about its new headquarters produced by Beet Media. I am very proud of the work done by my producer David Kavanaugh and our team. This and our other clips about the Times building can be found on The New York Times Company web site.
