Many people will be cycling into the New Year…
I think this is awesome. During this whole month they have had an abundance of people cycling to be able to charge the battery that lights the 2009 ball in Times Square.
They will need a total of 230 hours of people cycle during the month of December in order to light the ball for the 10-15 min telecast. Visitors and residents of New York have come together to charge this battery. That is amazing, I wish I lived there because I would have participated.
“This is our way of involving consumers in the whole process of
powering the 2009 lighting when the ball drops on New Years Eve,” said
Kurt Iverson, spokesman for the Duracell battery company.
Duracell has set up a ‘power lodge’ in Times Square. Upon arrival to the
lodge, visitors are ushered towards a row of bicycles that are connected to a
set of massive batteries. The power is generated from old fashioned rotary
technology – pedal power and spinning wheels.
Check out the article to see the whole story. I can only imagine in previous years how much it cost to power the ball. The New Years Eve ball is a 12 foot geodesic sphere that weighs 11,875 pounds. It is covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals and powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS, the new Ball is capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns producing a spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square. Even though this years ball is bigger than previous it is more energy efficient. Here are some pics of the new and improved Times Square Ball:
