Carrier’s One Court Square project received a Top Project of the Year Award in the elite Environment + Energy Leader Awards program, which recognizes projects that improve environmental or energy management and increase the bottom line. The One Court Square HVAC modernization project exemplifies Carrier’s approach to helping customers meet their operational, sustainable and cost-efficiency goals through innovative and integrated solutions. 

 

The Challenge

Carrier was engaged for an HVAC modernization project in the 53-story, 1.5 million-square-foot One Court Square skyscraper, which opened in Long Island City in 1990. Carrier worked with the owner, Savanna and manager, Cushman & Wakefield, to set ambitious targets for the new and improved HVAC system. The targets included reducing the system’s energy use by more than 50% (saving 4.4 million kWh annually and 766.9 kW during peak demand), saving on energy costs by 20%, and improving air quality, comfort, and temperature control. 

 

The Solution 

To optimize the building, Carrier completed extensive energy modeling and focused on plant optimization. The research resulted in the need to replace old chillers and building controls, plus rebuild the water-cooling tower. 

 

The Carrier Commercial Service team developed a modernization solution including installation of two 1,100-ton AquaEdge® 19XR-E Water-Cooled Centrifugal Chillers. These chillers have innovation in every aspect of their design including compression, heat exchange and controls technology enabling improved cooling efficiency. They go off-line when not needed in cooler weather, in line with pumps and a roof-based water-cooling tower.

 

Driving the new system was the Carrier i-Vu® Building Automation System, so that credentialed individuals could monitor the systems and access information about the building remotely. The system graphically configures and displays schedules, setpoints, trends, alarms, and reports. Carrier i-Vu also integrates other building systems such as lighting and meters using standard protocols. This real-time feature has been especially helpful during the pandemic when many are working altered hours.

 

Carrier’s solution also included the replacement of air handler sensors on 53 floors and the installation of variable frequency drives on eight pumps, which saves energy as equipment doesn’t run at full capacity when not needed.

 

The Results

The Carrier team was able to deliver on schedule and the installation was successfully completed in November 2020 and is performing better than planned against all targets. Additionally, the energy-efficiency rebate from electric servicer ConEdison was four times the out-of-pocket expense.

 

Carrier met a vision for the One Court Square project through sustainable design principles and life-cycle impact reduction, which are important drivers for meeting Carrier’s ambitious 2030 ESG Goals. Each Carrier technology selected for this project is state-of-the-art and industry-leading, but working together in one integrated system, is a powerful and innovative solution.

 

To view the full list of 2021 Environment + Energy Leader award winners, please visit their website here.