Dive Brief:

• The country’s tallest building was also supposed to be its “greenest” skyscraper ever. But reports have surfaced that flooding during Hurricane Sandy destroyed fuel cells in the basement of One World Trade Center and they were never replaced.

• It’s unclear how much less “green” the tower is without the fuel cells, but documents obtained from the New York Port Authority by Climate Desk, a news organization dedicated to reporting on climate change, show that the technology was designed to supply 10% of the building’s electricity source.

• The fuel cells reportedly were not replaced because doing so would delay the building from opening to tenants by the deadline required by their contracts with the Port Authority. At least one tenant, Condé Nast, would be entitled to reimbursement from the Port Authority for lost earnings and penalties if its move-in had been delayed. But in order for the publishing company and other tenants to move their equipment into the building, a loading dock was constructed in a place that blocks access to the space where the fuel cells would have been replaced.

Dive Insight:

Two other World Trade Center buildings also lost their fuel cells during Sandy, but have since replaced them, shining an even brighter spotlight on what some call a bad decision for the centerpiece tower on the part of the Port Authority.

In the meantime, it appears the U.S. Green Building Council still might award the skyscraper its LEED gold certification, based on the building’s many other sustainable features.