One Company Going Green in Times Square with the Eco Board

The concept of going green and reducing carbon outputs to the environment is everywhere. This concept could not be more evident in a place like Times Square in New York which is home to hundreds of billboards that light up the sky 24 hours a day, seven day a week. Enter the "Eco Board" which will look just like any other billboard on Times Square with one major difference. It is going to be lit solely by wind and solar power (mainly wind, source: news.yahoo.com).

According to the company that manufactures it, Ricoh Company Ltd., the Eco Board will weigh approximately 35,000 pounds and will use 16 vertical wind turbines and 64 solar panels to keep the billboard lit on a consistent basis. "We wanted to make a statement that we can put up a advertisement and not impact the environment, so that began the journey to Times Square," Ricoh spokesman Ron Potesky said (source: news.yahoo.com).

The company plans on putting the 47 foot high by 126 foot wide sign somewhere on the corner of 42^nd Street and 7^th Avenue. According to Potesky there is enough wind generated on that corner to power the sign 24 hours a day. Potesky estimates that the huge billboard will get 95 percent of its energy from the wind with the sun providing the other 5 percent (source: news.yahoo.com).

The wind turbines are custom made for Ricoh Company Ltd. by California wind technology company PacWind LLC. The special design of the turbines makes them extremely efficient in comparison to the traditional propeller types. While the traditional turbines stop spinning because the wind gets to high, the vertically designed turbines keep going. And the higher the wind, the more energy the vertical turbines produce (source: news.yahoo.com).

Ricoh Company Ltd. says the Eco Board will cost more than $1 million dollars to produce but they state that the in the long-term the sign will more than pay for itself. "Yes we are spending money. We are spending money on Times Square property and we are paying for the technology, but we are not paying for energy," Potesky said. "That billboard will be lit by the wind and the sun and that will be free. So we think there is a long-term payback but a short-term investment (source: news.yahoo.com)."

So what's the biggest difference between the Eco Board and its neighboring signs on Times Square? The Eco Sign will be the only one NOT emitting 18 tons of carbon into the air every year. Potesky hopes other companies will follow suite stating that an entire city could be lit for one year on the energy it takes to light up Times Square (source: news.yahoo.com). Hopefully more companies will get in the game of going green on Times Square. With more billboards like the Eco Sign we can be one step closer to saving some energy and our planet.