Building Type
2.2 Million square foot office building
Project Team
- Credit Suisse
- CALMAC Manufacturing Corporation – Thermal storage tanks
- ECM Energy Management Services
- New York State Energy Research
and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
SYSTEMS INSTALLED:
- Three 800-ton
Trane highefficiency
centrifugal chillers
- 64 CALMAC ice
storage tanks
- Plate-and-frame
heat exchangers,
pumps and related
equipment
Built in 1932, 11 Madison Avenue in New York
City is a 2.2 million square foot office building
that serves as the national headquarters for
Credit Suisse. As one of the world’s leading
banks, Credit Suisse provides clients with
investment banking, private banking and asset
management services worldwide. Here’s how
Trane partnered with Credit Suisse to meet
their air conditioning, energy and
environmental challenges.
Faced with replacing an outdated chiller
plant at the end of its life cycle, Credit Suisse
explored the prospects of a high performance
building that addressed the overall goals of
energy savings, improved plant resiliency and
environmental consciousness.
As part of the plan to improve the building’s
energy performance, Credit Suisse brought in
Trane’s New York/New Jersey Energy Services
Group to develop a solution. After completing
a detailed building analysis, the Trane Energy
Services Group proposed a thermal storage
solution that would shift electric load from
daytime to night when electricity is more
plentiful, less expensive and generated more
efficiently. The plan also called for replacing
three of the building’s aging chillers with new,
more efficient and inherently more reliable non-
CFC chillers.
Trane installed three 800-ton CenTraVac™
chillers, 64 CALMAC thermal storage tanks and
related thermal storage equipment.
The thermal storage system works by using one
of the new chillers to make ice at night during
off-peak, reduced-rate hours — reducing peak
electric demand by nearly one megawatt and
reducing on-peak energy consumption by over
2.15 million kWh per year. These energy savings,
combined with a substantial subsidy incentive
from NYSERDA, delivered an attractive financial
return for Credit Suisse while enhancing chilled
water plant resiliency. Off-peak power used
to make ice is generated by more efficient,
cleaner natural gas power plants rather than
older, dirtier oil-fired plants, providing a distinct
environmental advantage.
The new chillers also use environmentally
responsible HCFC-123 refrigerant. All work was
completed without disrupting operations of
Credit Suisse or other building tenants.
Featuring art deco styling, 11 Madison Avenue
was constructed in 1932 as part of the
headquarters for the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company. The building was originally designed
to reach 100 stories which would have made it
the world’s tallest building during that time.
The Great Depression, however, limited
construction to its current 30 stories.
11 Madison Avenue currently serves as national
headquarters for Credit Suisse, a global banking
firm that operates in more than 33 countries
on five continents.
This turnkey project shifts nearly 1 megawatt
of peak electric demand and reduces annual
on-peak energy usage by more than
2.15 million kWh.