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Nov 20, 2007 3:58 pm US/Eastern
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Rockfeller Xmas Tree Lights To Be Energy-Efficient
NEW YORK (AP) ―
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is going ever greener -- for the first time, the lights on the towering spruce will be energy-saving bulbs.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he hoped to set an example for the tens of millions of New Yorkers and tourists who see the tree every year.
"Now they will see an example of green leadership which may inspire them to make greener choices in their own lives," Bloomberg said Tuesday.
Replacing the lights reduces the energy consumption of the holiday display from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt hours per day. The daily savings is equal to the amount of energy used to power a 2,000-square-foot home for a month.
The 84-foot-tall Norway spruce will be covered with five miles of wire and 30,000 multicolored bulbs known as light emitting diodes, or LEDs.
After the lighting on Nov. 28, the tree stays illuminated from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. most days through the first week of January.
The tradition of the tree in Rockefeller Center dates back to 1931, when construction workers erected a 20-foot Balsam fir amid the mud and rubble.
The complex now sprawls for six square blocks between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue from 48th to 51st streets, and is home to Radio City Music Hall, NBC and Christie's auction house.
The tree's green crusade won't end in January -- after it is taken down, it will be made into lumber for houses built by Habitat for Humanity.
Bloomberg made the announcement on the roof of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, one of the buildings in the famed complex in midtown Manhattan.
There, the owners of Rockefeller Center, Tishman Speyer, also showed off their new 365-panel solar energy roof, the largest privately owned solar roof in Manhattan.
The panels will be connected to a generation station linked to the electricity grid at the complex.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)