Sustainable Buildings

LEED Certification—Democracy Now!

Working as a technical consultant under NYSERDA’s New Construction Program, ERS played a major role in improving the energy efficient design of New York City’s Democracy Now! broadcast studio and helped them achieve LEED Platinum certification. The studio covers 9,000 sq. ft. on the eleventh floor of an old industrial printing house and includes administrative offices, a broadcast studio, a research library, and a lobby. One of the challenges of the project was to figure out how to minimize cooling energy use throughout the diverse spaces. ERS engineers used advanced building energy simulation models to assess energy efficiency opportunities. The final building design included innovative lighting systems and controls, high efficiency windows, and an energy efficient modular chilled-water system, all of which helped the design team lower their overall energy use by more than 10 percent compared to a conventional system, making Democracy Now! the greenest broadcast studio in the country.