Green X-mas Tree, New York Style

No pang of guilt towards the environment this year in Rockefeller Center as the traditional Christmas tree will be lit with energy-saving bulbs throughout the holidays and then transformed into houses by Habitat for Humanity. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in Manhattan, N. Y. attempts to inspire on more levels than one this year, not only with holiday cheer and goodwill, but also with peaceful thoughts (and actions) towards our environment. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that he hopes the brightly lighted Manhattan trademark display will inspire New Yorkers and tourists alike to make “greener” choices themselves. “Now they will see an example of green leadership which may inspire them to make greener choices in their own lives,” Bloomberg said. The entire process of cutting, transporting, lighting and displaying the tree, as well as reusing it after the holiday season, is environmentally-conscious this year. The 84-foot-tall Norway spruce which is the 75th Tree was cut with a hand saw by two workers, the old-fashioned way, to honor “the heritage of the Tree process,” official website www.thetreenyc.com explains. The tree will be covered with 30,000 multicolored energy efficient light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, strung on five miles of wire. This will reduce the display's electricity consumption from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt hours per day, reports the Associated Press. The daily savings is equal to the amount of electricity consumed by a typical 2,000-square-foot house in a month, per the AP. There will also be a 365-panel solar energy array installed on the roof of 45 Rockefeller Plaza to create a 70Kwh generation station, which will remain in place after the holiday season. The official lighting of the tree will occur during a ceremony on Nov. 28; during the following weeks, the tree will be illuminated from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. most days, through the first week of January. The tree will be taken down on January 8, only to serve a higher purpose, as Habitat For Humanity will use it to build symbolic doorframes that will be used in select HFH building programs in NYC, the Gulf Coast, India and Brazil. LED LIGHTING: