4. The development model

A model is presented which incorporates a microgrid utilizing renewable energy assets into a development consisting of three 32-story residential towers and one 57-story commercial tower. The scale of the development is in keeping with current large-scale developments. The model is run in each of the eight cities of interest using local data on environmental conditions, construction costs (exclusive of real estate purchase), and income levels based upon local rents and power rates. Analyses of the benefits of including the microgrid, as opposed to the same scale conventional development, are performed on three levels:


#### 4.1 The buildings

Actual hourly electrical usage data and building specifications of one 32-story residential tower and one 57-story commercial tower located in New York City were generously provided by GridMarket LLC, New York City, NY. The dimensions of each tower, given in square feet (sq. ft.) and number of apartments (apts.), are given in Table 5. Rentable area for the entire four-tower development is calculated, per industry standard, at 50% of total square footage, with the remaining 50% designated for hallways, stairwell, elevator shafts, and other such types of generaluse areas.


Table 5.

Specifications for buildings to be used in the model (provided by GridMarket LLC).
