Heir To The Air

I have to admit that I have a serious affliction that has to do with turning off all the lights in the house when leaving, or retiring for the evening. Never tire to tease my energy flaunting family members by referring to them as Mr. PG&E (jrs) not that I have seen any turn of the energy tide forthcoming but ya gotta start somewhere. Shift forward to life on the boat this week, and there is no need to be the nudge as all power is solar, and we live pretty much off grid (boats are easier to keep tabs on from a power consumption stand point.) The BBC today has a great story about the greening of the Empire State Building. Soaring 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan, the Empire State Building was recently named America's most favorite building in the poll conducted by American Institute of Architects.

This green makeover is part of a $500 refit which the building's owners hope will attract bigger companies paying higher rents. Former President Bill Clinton's Climate Initiative has helped fund the project.

I thought it would be the common drill: change the light bulbs, turn down the thermostat but no... the building has an impressive list of energy saving measures like: reflective film upon each of the 102-story building's 6,500 windows, insulation behind radiators and improved lighting, ventilation and air conditioning. The plan is to cut the amount of energy used by 38% per year, saving $4.4m. Wow! that's some major dough. My house has the old wavy gravy style windows and I am always reminded by the progeny of PG & E that these old windows are completely inefficient. My retort, thanks to my friends at treehugger.com: In the end, the greenest window is the one that's already in the wall besides, love that look of the old glass.

I can't imagine my household is the only one to host these tug o war battles. I say fight all of those green battles equal opportunity. I just like the idea of such huge savings and saving the planet simultaneously even if it is one light switch at a time. Now if I could just convince Mr. PG & E that a new Tesla would help fight the good fight.