FiDi Tower Testing Solar Film to Reduce Interior Heat from Summer Sun
Installation of solar film by construction crews began in July on the 28-foot-wide by 7-foot-high windows at Wall Street Plaza located at 88 Pine Street in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. Although the windows offer great views and natural light to the tenants inside, during the summer months they also push interior heat to a level that requires “cranking up the air conditioning” to maintain a comfortable temperature. The project has attracted the interest of both Con Edison and building owners citywide. After suggestions to replace the windows with smaller ones, which was a non-starter, or installing double-pane windows, which was too expensive, decisions were made by the building’s director of property management, Robert Donohue to select California-based Solar Gard’s window film. The window film that works best on windows that don’t open “blocks ultraviolet light and heat,” while interior lighting conditions remain ‘very natural; and per initial observations by Donohue, “improves the privacy for workers because views inside from the sidewalk are obscured.” Compared to tinting car windows or putting on sunglasses, the project is expected to take “three months and cost $1.4 million after a $650,000 rebate from Con Edison.” Donohue estimates that the solar film “should lower the [32-story] building’s annual electric bill by at least $200,000 and the project should pay for itself in about six years.”