how do skyscrapers heat/cool all of their space and not overdraw electricity?

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What form of energy are they using for the heating? Surely can’t just be a giant oil furnace…. And what are the electricity costs for operating such a massive building? The draw from the grid must be insane

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3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The architects and engineers who design skyscrapers have a wide range of ratios and equations to estimate the electricity and heat needed by a given building. All it takes is for them to make sure there are enough boilers and/or electric heating units in the basement to meet the heating+hot water needs of the building.

Anonymous 0 Comments

For many large buildings, the various lighting, communication, and plumbing systems, plus the occupants, generate more than enough heat. Even in winter they need to cool areas of the building. One efficient way to do this is to move heat from the core of the building to the exterior areas next to the skin where some heating is needed.

Because of the efficiencies in larger shared systems, a 40-story building with 240 condo units uses far less electricity than 240 houses.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Depends upon how the building is designed. Some cities have steam lines in the street, others have fuel oil or natural gas, others have electric boilers.

They zone the different areas so that different spaces can be set to the occupant’s preferred temperatures.