A New York Story (to Make Northwesterners Smile)
Deck those halls! Put some eggnog in your latte. Tonight is the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York (8 p.m., NBC). Whether you’re from one coast or the other, Scrooge or Santa’s helper, Christian or otherwise, it’s hard to ignore the appeal of this enormous tree. I wouldn’t call it a wonder of the world, but my first time seeing it, I thought the same thing I did at the Grand Canyon: “Wow, it’s huge!”
This year the tree has undergone some eco-modification. [via] What’s ecological about chopping down an 84-foot tree? A number of things, actually:
- Attached to the five miles of wire that spiral around the tree will be LED lights. Light emitting diodes have some significant advantages over incandescent bulbs, and with 30,000 lights wrapping around the tree, it’s estimated that this will save 2213 kilowatt hours per day. (If the average Seattle City Light customer consumes 30 kw hours per day, that’s enough energy to electrify your house for more than 70 days!)
- Some of the tree’s electricity will come from new solar panels on the roof of a Rockefeller Plaza building. In their first year the panels will generate enough energy to power the tree all 42 days it’s lit.
- The tree was cut with hand saws. Wow again. An 84 foot tall tree has a mighty trunk, Mr. Bunyan.
- The site from which the tree was taken will be replanted.
- The tree will be milled, and the wood will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
Also in the plans for greening Rockefeller Center:
- Radio City Music Hall will get a green roof.
- The ice rink has a new ice making system. It will make ice only at night when the City’s energy consumption is low, and will run air conditioning water through the ice to cool office buildings in the Center.
Read more about the 2007 tree at the Tree Guy Blog!
Take some inspiration from those eco-conscious New Yorkers (!), and the P-I, and shrink your own environmental footprint this Christmas.
