Broadway Green Alliance helps bring energy-efficient technology into theaters
NEW YORK -- New technologies are helping Broadway to be friendlier to the environment.
The lights are bright on Broadway and throughout Times Square -- dazzling but too often a waste of energy, according to experts and Con Edison.
"Most of our energy consumption is coming from buildings ... Looking at the existing facilities and trying to retrofit them with energy efficiency measures," said Alyki Malliaros, an energy efficiency expert with Con Edison.
Theaters are going green.
Some audience members enjoying the long-running musical "Aladdin" at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre are happy to learn incandescent bulbs are disappearing at the venue, replaced by LED ones.
"Our marquees are both LED on the front and back of the theater," New Amsterdam manager of operations Erin Clark said. "We have over 10,000 lights inside the theater, and we're in the process of changing those over as they burn out."
Susan Sampliner is co-founder of Broadway Green Alliance.
"Every actor has a mic ... They have batteries that operate them. We used to throw out that battery after every performance," she said. "By recharging batteries, we now can go through 96 batteries a year instead of 15,000 a year."
These green measures are being put into play in our nation's regional theaters and off-Broadway, including at the Westside Theatre, the current home of "Little Shop of Horrors."
Theaters are encouraged to paint rooftops a reflective white, and get cast and crew to use reusable drinking water bottles.
The theater for "Aladdin" and theaters for other shows invested big money to make air conditioning and heating more energy efficient. Washer and dryers are the green kinds.
But more can be done. Sampliner says theater programs can be a waste of paper.
"They print 44 million Playbills a year," Sampliner said. "Making changes, for example, sending you a QR code. You can download it at home and read it in advance ... You get a one-page sheet that gives you the vital information, and if you wanna buy something to keep, you buy a souvenir book."
All of this is easier than you might think, she says. It will save you money, and it will save the environment.
