Energy efficiency

Optimized energy efficiency has a positive impact on operating expenses and contributes to improved key environmental performance indicators such as energy consumption and CO2 footprint. Improving in-house energy efficiency is one of the three main initiatives to achieve the group-wide CO2 emission reduction target of 40% below 2004 levels by 2012. Measures include investments in energy-efficient technology, and encouraging good housekeeping measures.

Technical standard on energy efficiency

In 2007, UBS adopted a technical standard supporting worldwide oversight of measures taken to improve energy efficiency in fields such as building operation, replacement investments and rehabilitations. The standard sets energy efficiency target values, for example for heating boilers, chillers and heat pump systems as well as for glazing, facades and lighting. It generally applies to all owned buildings, whereas in leased buildings applicability is limited to UBS's sphere of influence as a tenant.

Case studies

2007 – Zurich Energy Model Award

In 2007, UBS was awarded the "Energy Model Zurich" trophy for the firm's achievements in improving its energy efficiency in Switzerland by 17% since 1997. The award is presented every two years to the company that has achieved the most in the four areas of "quantitative increase in energy efficiency", "quality of energy management", "innovative approach" and "group orientation".

2007 – Earth Award Stamford

In Stamford, Connecticut, the location of one of our main trading floors and one of our largest buildings globally, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Southern Connecticut awarded 677 Washington Blvd their 2007 ‘Earth Award.’ This annual award recognizes excellence in building management, operational efficiency and community impact. The award was an acknowledgement of the properties’ commitment to the ISO 14001 program, as well as the successful implementation of a multiple year retro-commissioning project.

2007 – Global Energy Efficiency Program

Key to the success of our energy efficiency program is ensuring that the full range of opportunities is explored. These initiatives reach from major retro-fittings to numerous minor optimizations which, when aggregated, deliver a lot of value. For example:

State-of-the-art cooling technology was introduced in our Zurich Altstetten and Opfikon campuses, some of the largest UBS buildings in Switzerland. These major technological upgrades allowed us to save an estimated 20 GWh per year.
As part of the construction of the North American Data Center in Connecticut, several efforts have been made during the infrastructure design and the initial operations of the facility to save energy. These include the installation of variable speed drive chillers, water source economizer units, and air handling units for the cooling system plant. Total energy consumption savings per year compared to more conventional designs is 3.76 GWh.
By using a Plate & Frame Heat Exchanger, our Lincoln Harbour Campus in Weehawken, New Jersey, is able to pre-cool the water used to produce conditioned air. This pre-cooling is enough to bypass machines that consume a lot of power, and is anticipated to save 2.15 GWh per year.
In Sydney we installed efficient individually zoned after hours air conditioning units releasing UBS from its dependency on an inefficient and inflexible base building Landlord system that by default conditioned a vastly larger area than was required. This has resulted in an annual savings of 0.28 GWh in energy consumption.
In our Newport Office Center VII in Jersey City, New Jersey we have created an interface between the Building Management System and the Lobby Lighting Controls system. This allows us to greatly reduce the amount time the lights remain on after the business day and generates a projected annual saving of 0.08 GWh.
In the same location, a ‘team cleaning’ approach has been adopted which consists of consolidating all cleaning on one floor at a time so that the property management team can activate the lighting for only the floor being cleaned. Based on early results the annual energy reduction is estimated at 0.17 GWh.
Throughout our 299 Park Avenue office in New York, NY, we have installed Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) on our supplemental air-conditioning units. VFDs control the speed of the fan motor, and use much less energy to meet the temperature set-point. Year-on-year consumption savings from this initiative has equated to approximately 0.03 GWh.

2006 - LEED Certification, Stamford

In Stamford, Connecticut, we successfully obtained LEED – Commercial Interiors' certification for four newly developed floors at One Stamford Forum. LEED - CI is the green benchmark for the tenant improvement market. It is the U.S. recognized system for certifying high-performance green interiors that are healthy, productive places to work; are less costly to operate and maintain; and have a reduced environmental footprint. LEED -CI gave the project team the power to make sustainable choices for a spectacular new space and set the benchmark for future sustainable designs.

2006 – PC Workstations 'Wake on LAN' in Switzerland

A new functionality for PC workstations was introduced in Switzerland. Called Wake on LAN, this functionality allows PCs to be ‘shut off’ after work, and be ‘woken up’ for software upgrades during the night. It was rolled out for over 30,000 workstations and notebooks in Switzerland in 2006, and is expected to result in annual power savings of 8 GWh, and worth CHF 1 million.

2006 – Retrofitting in Stamford, US

In Stamford, Connecticut, the location of one of our main trading floors and one of our largest buildings globally, we are beginning to see the benefits of a major retrofitting project that included infrastructure upgrades and improved energy monitoring. Our 2006 electricity consumption decreased by 5% despite significant business growth and higher occupancy density. The estimated annual energy saving of 2.3 GWh lowered costs by over USD 270,000 and cut indirect CO2 emissions by 740 metric tons . Additionally, the measures helped reduce the building’s draw on the local electricity grid, helping to mitigate some of increased demand in the city of Stamford itself.

2006 – Replacing building chiller systems, Zurich

A new generation of chillers was introduced at Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse headquarters during the renovation of the cooling system. Intelligent engineering coupled with a very significant rise in the coefficient of performance of the chillers reduced energy costs for cooling by a factor of 3, also resulting in significant energy savings (4.1 GWh) and reduced CO2 emissions (2000 tons).

2005/2006 – Upgrade of outside air intake system, New Jersey

In Weehawken, New Jersey, the location of one of our largest office buildings, we implemented a major energy efficiency project in December 2005. The damper controls that regulate outside air into a 40,000 square meter building were old and inefficient. This resulted in too much cold air entering the building in the winter months, which our heating system had to warm, and in the summer months too much hot humid air that had to be cooled. The project cost approximately $700,000 to implement. It is estimated to result in 2.1 GWh annual energy savings and have a return on investment within two and a half to three years. The upgrade also improved the comfort level for employees, and hot and cold complaint calls to our local facilities helpdesk dropped by 40% from 2005 to 2006.

2005 – Renovation of a major building in Zurich

In Zurich, the renovation of a major building resulted in yearly savings of 3.5 GWh, which is 41% of its total annual energy consumption. The building's heating, cooling and lighting systems were entirely upgraded using state-of-the-art technology and operations.

2005 - Modification program for our supplemental air conditioning units

At a New York City office, a modification program for our supplemental air conditioning units was undertaken. Initially the units, when conditions called for cooling, would start up both compressors. We rewired several of the air conditioning units to start up one compressor at a time. The second compressor would only start if the first unit could not maintain temperature. Moreover, we reprogrammed the air conditioning units. Instead of starting the units up at a specific time, we modified the units to start up when the interior temperature called for it. This control change resulted in a saving of 4 to 6 hours a day in operating hours of the units.

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