There’s no amount of money that could convince me to spend New Year’s Eve in Times Square, but even I have to admit that this year’s Ball is innovative. The new Ball, which weighs 11,875 pounds and is double the size of previous Balls, will light up with help from 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs.
The LEDs create billions of patterns, 16 million colors, and make the Ball 10 to 20 percent more energy efficient than last year. Skeptics may try to point out that that doesn’t make the showy orb truly energy efficient, but they’re wrong— it consumes the same amount of energy per hour as two traditional home ovens.
Times Square will also feature a slightly less exciting green element this year: a people-powered 2009 sign. Revelers can already pedal on bicycles in Duracell’s Times Square “power lodge” to generate energy for the sign.
According to organizers, 95 pedal hours have been stored thus far. 230 hours are necessary to power the sign for 10 to 15 minutes. Clearly, the “power lodge” is designed more to create energy awareness than to actually make a difference— but considering how many people have their eyes on Times Square come January 1, maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
Photo Credit: Times Square Alliance
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
