Lights Out, NYC

So it's not exactly technology. In fact, my parents have reminded me to do it every time I leave a room for as long as I can remember. The Daily New's front page article yesterday criticized the Mayor for leaving unnecessary lights on throughout the city through the wee hours of the night-- several reporters roamed around city municipal buildings late to docuement it. Even worse, this came just days after Bloomberg's huge 127 part initiative to make New York City it's greenest. Apparantly he overlooked the most obvious solutions.

Bloomberg responded that janitors and other occupants are often working into the late hours, but there were a few buildings that were completely vacant, including the Bronx Hall of Justice, which was just built and doesn't even have occupants yet, especailly at 3am.

New York City expects to shell out $504 million in the current fiscal year on electricity alone. Bloomberg has plans to equip City Hall with energy efficient bulbs to whittle down electricity costs. The Education Department building on court street remained lit in the early hours as well, and turning off those lights would save the government 33% per year (about $57,000). According to the Daily News, this is more than enough to cover one new teacher or two new police officer salaries. If every building could work out a system that allowed janitorial duties to be taken care of in a few hours at the end of the day or early morning, then that would provide a huge surplus so that the Mayor might be able to fund all the grand initiatives in store.

I doubt New York will retire its title as the city that never sleeps any time soon-- Shutting off Time Square at night might cause wild riots, likewise for the many other city symbols that define New York, from the Empire State Building the Statue of Liberty. Bloomberg hopes to eventually equip all buildings and landmarks with energy-efficient bulbs.