NYguy
Apr 25, 2007, 8:54 PM
I personally love that the city comes alive at night, but some disagree...
(Daily News)
Here's a bright idea: Turn off the lights!
Days after Bloomberg unveils giant green proposal,
News finds city burning midnight oil
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/04/25/amd_michaelbloomberg.jpg
Despite Mayor Bloomberg's emphasis on going green, the city wastes thousands of dollars powering buildings at night.
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/04/25/amd_countyhall.jpg
3 a.m. at Bronx Hall of Justice
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/04/25/amd_courthouse.jpg
Manhattan Municipal Building
This story was reported by VERONIKA BELENKAYA, LISA L. COLANGELO,
RACHEL MONAHAN, ETHAN ROUEN and RICHARD WEIR
by TINA MOORE
April 25th 2007, 4:00 AM
Well into the night, the lights at the Department of Education headquarters in Manhattan are routinely on - yet nobody is home.
The same goes for the new Bronx Hall of Justice on E. 161st St., which was lit up from top to bottom at 3 a.m. yesterday, even though it's not being used yet - and is labeled a "green building."
The Bloomberg administration unveiled its 25-year plan last week for a greener city. Today, the Daily News offers this simple tip to City Hall:
Turn out the lights.
"It's safe to say if you're turning out the lights, you're going to be paying less and you're going to be polluting less," said Jason Babbie, senior environmental policy analyst at the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It sounds like a few city offices need to be reminded of that."
The News sent reporters out at night to parts of the city with pockets of municipal buildings to see if the city is practicing what Mayor Bloomberg is preaching about energy conservation.
In downtown Brooklyn, lower Manhattan, the South Bronx and Long Island City, Queens, we found examples lit up like a Christmas tree in April.
Lights at the historic Tweed Courthouse, which houses the Education Department headquarters, were still blazing at 3:50 a.m.
Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said Tweed is regularly cleaned during off-hours.
The department's building at 65 Court St. in Brooklyn also was lit well into the wee hours.
Feinberg said those lights had to be on because of an unspecified number of information technology and payroll employees who work overnight. She refused to provide an exact number of late-night workers and referred further questions to the city.
The Education Department paid $172,000 in the most recent fiscal year for lighting, elevators, air conditioning and heating for the Court St. building.
If the department stopped running its lights at night, it would potentially save a third of that cost, or about $57,000 a year. The city could hire one new teacher at the average starting salary of $42,512 or two new cops at $25,000 each.
The still-vacant courthouse in the Bronx required $78,000 of electricity in February, said Paul Bergdorf, a spokesman for the state Dormitory Authority, which is constructing the courthouse for the city.
The city is paying for the building costs, including the electricity. Turning the lights off at night in February could have saved city taxpayers as much as $26,000.
Bergdorf said the lights are computerized and set to remain on at a dimmer level for janitorial service - even though the offices are empty and no janitors areworking.
After he received a call from The News, he said his department would look into the light usage at night.
"We're having our electrical consultants review the system to make sure it's working as it was designed," he said.
A hulking building that holds municipal offices at 30-30 Thomson Ave. in Long Island City shined brightly at 2:45 a.m. yesterday with about two-thirds of its windows lit. At the main entrance, even the display windows featuring school blueprints and models were illuminated.
"It's definitely a big waste," said Krishna Mukherji, 45, as she gazed up at the building one night last week. "People should be made aware of it. Electricity is not free."
The building on Thomson Ave. is privately owned, but the city pays for electric in the space it leases.
When asked for comment, Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher noted that city greenhouse gas emissions had remained steady for the past five years despite rising for the previous six. Energy use in buildings accounts for about 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
"City government doesn't come to a halt at 5 p.m.," he said, "and certain lights will be on in government buildings after-hours."
One of those buildings is apparently the stately Municipal Building at 1 Centre St., which houses numerous city offices.
The whopping 1 million-square-foot building is 3.4 times larger than the Education Department's building in Brooklyn. Based on that property's electricity costs, the city could save $194,000 a year by keeping the lights off - enough to pay for four city housing inspectors who earn $47,762.
(Daily News)
Here's a bright idea: Turn off the lights!
Days after Bloomberg unveils giant green proposal,
News finds city burning midnight oil
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/04/25/amd_michaelbloomberg.jpg
Despite Mayor Bloomberg's emphasis on going green, the city wastes thousands of dollars powering buildings at night.
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/04/25/amd_countyhall.jpg
3 a.m. at Bronx Hall of Justice
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2007/04/25/amd_courthouse.jpg
Manhattan Municipal Building
This story was reported by VERONIKA BELENKAYA, LISA L. COLANGELO,
RACHEL MONAHAN, ETHAN ROUEN and RICHARD WEIR
by TINA MOORE
April 25th 2007, 4:00 AM
Well into the night, the lights at the Department of Education headquarters in Manhattan are routinely on - yet nobody is home.
The same goes for the new Bronx Hall of Justice on E. 161st St., which was lit up from top to bottom at 3 a.m. yesterday, even though it's not being used yet - and is labeled a "green building."
The Bloomberg administration unveiled its 25-year plan last week for a greener city. Today, the Daily News offers this simple tip to City Hall:
Turn out the lights.
"It's safe to say if you're turning out the lights, you're going to be paying less and you're going to be polluting less," said Jason Babbie, senior environmental policy analyst at the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It sounds like a few city offices need to be reminded of that."
The News sent reporters out at night to parts of the city with pockets of municipal buildings to see if the city is practicing what Mayor Bloomberg is preaching about energy conservation.
In downtown Brooklyn, lower Manhattan, the South Bronx and Long Island City, Queens, we found examples lit up like a Christmas tree in April.
Lights at the historic Tweed Courthouse, which houses the Education Department headquarters, were still blazing at 3:50 a.m.
Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said Tweed is regularly cleaned during off-hours.
The department's building at 65 Court St. in Brooklyn also was lit well into the wee hours.
Feinberg said those lights had to be on because of an unspecified number of information technology and payroll employees who work overnight. She refused to provide an exact number of late-night workers and referred further questions to the city.
The Education Department paid $172,000 in the most recent fiscal year for lighting, elevators, air conditioning and heating for the Court St. building.
If the department stopped running its lights at night, it would potentially save a third of that cost, or about $57,000 a year. The city could hire one new teacher at the average starting salary of $42,512 or two new cops at $25,000 each.
The still-vacant courthouse in the Bronx required $78,000 of electricity in February, said Paul Bergdorf, a spokesman for the state Dormitory Authority, which is constructing the courthouse for the city.
The city is paying for the building costs, including the electricity. Turning the lights off at night in February could have saved city taxpayers as much as $26,000.
Bergdorf said the lights are computerized and set to remain on at a dimmer level for janitorial service - even though the offices are empty and no janitors areworking.
After he received a call from The News, he said his department would look into the light usage at night.
"We're having our electrical consultants review the system to make sure it's working as it was designed," he said.
A hulking building that holds municipal offices at 30-30 Thomson Ave. in Long Island City shined brightly at 2:45 a.m. yesterday with about two-thirds of its windows lit. At the main entrance, even the display windows featuring school blueprints and models were illuminated.
"It's definitely a big waste," said Krishna Mukherji, 45, as she gazed up at the building one night last week. "People should be made aware of it. Electricity is not free."
The building on Thomson Ave. is privately owned, but the city pays for electric in the space it leases.
When asked for comment, Bloomberg spokesman John Gallagher noted that city greenhouse gas emissions had remained steady for the past five years despite rising for the previous six. Energy use in buildings accounts for about 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
"City government doesn't come to a halt at 5 p.m.," he said, "and certain lights will be on in government buildings after-hours."
One of those buildings is apparently the stately Municipal Building at 1 Centre St., which houses numerous city offices.
The whopping 1 million-square-foot building is 3.4 times larger than the Education Department's building in Brooklyn. Based on that property's electricity costs, the city could save $194,000 a year by keeping the lights off - enough to pay for four city housing inspectors who earn $47,762.