When the Times Square Ball descended last New Year’s Eve, it was 20% more energy-efficient, courtesy of new LED lights that replaced incandescent and halogen bulbs.
Philips Lighting North America has completed the makeover for tonight’s celebration, adding LED technology to the ball’s numbers (2-0-1-0).
The custom-designed scalloped flood bulbs now use only 9 watts each—a dramatic decrease from the 40 watts consumed by the old bulbs.
About 1 million people are expected to show up in Times Square, freezing their asses off under a canopy of rain and snow. If they want to warm up and break a sweat, they can head over to the Duracell Power Lab (1540 Broadway), where volunteers will pedal six power rovers that help light the ball’s numbers.
Enjoy the show, and have a safe New Year’s Eve!
Photo courtesy of Philips
It looks like an intergalactic super brain, but it’s actually the ball that dropped last night during New York City’s New Year’s Eve celebration. And, it’s a marvel of green engineering!
For starters, all the lights are LED. It’s covered with 2,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs and at 12-feet wide, weighs...
Read: New York City's LED Ball Drop
That’s the WaterMill, by Element Four, and it’s an awesome invention! It’s a home appliance that extracts moisture from the air and turns it into clean water.
It’s only about the size of a large golf ball cut in half, but can produce up to 12 liters of water a day...
Read: Water from Air, Poof!
In Brooklyn, an old building, originally constructed in the 1880s and newly renovated into 25 commercial spaces, gets a green overhaul.
The Nassau Brewery, once called the Budweiser Brewery until a lawsuit by the more well-known Budweiser forced a name change, is the first commercial net-metered solar power array in New...
Read: Brooklyn Rooftop Goes Solar
A nearly ice-free summertime Arctic Ocean may happen three times sooner than scientists estimated.
New research shows the Arctic may lose most of its ice cover in summer in as few as 30 years, instead of the end of the century (as some scientists projected).
The ocean’s ice could shrink to about...
Read: Ice-Free Arctic Ocean Possible in 30 Years
Lucky for us, this year’s ozone hole has peaked. According to NASA imagery, at 10.5 million square miles over the Antarctic, 2008’s hole is only the 5th largest in history. 2006 has that crown.
Via National Geographic News....
Read: 10.5 Million Miles of Ozone, Hole
Tags: energy, New Year’s Eve, New York City, Times Square
