One of the world’s most iconic structures, the Sears Tower in Chicago, is to be renamed Willis Tower. The Lloyd’s insurance broker is moving into the 1,450ft high, 110 story building owned by 233 S. Wacker Drive LLC this summer. Willis will eventually occupy more than 140,000 sq ft over multiple floors.

Not only is Willis Tower ‘iconic’ because it is the tallest building in the western hemisphere: it is important because it is being comprehensively ‘greened’ by its owners (pdf), at a cost of $350 million.

The building, which already meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria, is undertaking sustainability initiatives above and beyond those used by the United States Green Building Council to rate a green building.

The modernisation includes:

—Efficiency improvements to the building’s exterior envelope and 16,000 windows. Strategies to achieve a thermal break of the curtain wall are also being investigated;
—Mechanical systems upgrades in the form of new gas boilers that utilise fuel cell technologies, which generate electricity, heating and cooling at as much as 90% efficiency;
—The tower’s 104 high speed elevators and 15 escalators will be modernised with the latest technology to achieve 40% reduction in their energy consumption;
—Water savings that will be realised with conservation initiatives to reduce water usage by 40% and save 24 million gallons of water each year;
—Lighting that will be upgraded to save up to 40% of lighting energy consumption;
—Wind turbines to take advantage of the tower’s height and unique set-back roof areas; Solar hot-water panels will help heat water for the building; 
—Green roofs that can sustain high-altitude conditions, and that will be among the tallest in the world, will be tested to reduce storm water runoff, improve insulation, help mitigate the urban heat island effect, and provide pleasant vistas for tenants overlooking the areas.

Willis Tower is leading the way at an important time. There is a growing body of opinion that we’re not doing enough to mitigate carbon emissions. Only this week, an international group of respected academics called on world leaders to abandon their current policies on climate change and concentrate instead on improving energy efficiency and decarbonising energy supply.

The authors of a report published by the London School of Economics’ (LSE) Mackinder Programme and the University of Oxford’s Institute for Science, Innovation & Society, How to Get Climate Policy Back on Course (pdf), say the strategy based on overall emissions cuts has failed and will continue to fail.

Certainly, there is no proof yet that the stumbling Kyoto Protocol will have any effect on reducing global emission. Whereas the direct action such as that taken at Willis Tower will at least show immediate tangible results.

Tags: Climate change

This entry was posted by Garry Booth on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Insurance Commentary.