Eco-Friendly Billboard Comes to Times Square

Artist's rendering

There's a new show set to open on the Great White Way, but it's neither musical nor straight play, and admission is free. We're referring to Times Square's first-ever eco-friendly billboard, soon to grace 3 Times Square at the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 42nd Street.

The billboard, commissioned by Japanese camera company Ricoh, weighing in at 35,000 pounds and measuring 126 high and 47 feet wide, will be powered entirely by the wind and sun, using 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels.

By generating its own electricity — enough to light six homes for a year — the sign could save as much as $12,000 to $15,000 per month, according to Ricoh, which estimated that the sign would prevent 18 tons of carbon from being spewed into the air yearly.

Ricoh representatives expect that the turbines will generate enough power to keep the sign lighted even after four days without wind or sun, but the company is prepared for the sign to occasionally go dark.

The New York Times reported that the “passive” sign is not studded with light-emitting diodes like many others in Times Square, but will be lighted by 16 300-watt floodlights. It will feature custom-printed opaque vinyl sheeting bearing the red-and-white Ricoh logo. Ricoh marketing VP Ron Potesky told the Times that the company wanted to send a message “to customers, other companies and the world that resources and energy can be used creatively. The point is that there are ways of being environmentally friendly to the planet, even on a billboard.”

For more info about the sign, please visit http://www.ricoh.com/info/080704.html