For the first time ever, Morgan Stanley turned off its giant Times Square sign during New York City’s electricity shortage – and made a tidy profit helping out.
The towering electronic ticker and screen that awes millions of tourists consumes enough electricity to keep thousands of city dwellers chilling all night under window air conditioners.
Morgan Stanley also trimmed other even bigger electricity eaters in its headquarters building at W. 47th and Broadway, such as a sand filtration device in rooftop cooling towers. It also switched its chilling plant for high-tech gear to emergency generators.
In all, the cutbacks from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. helped save a total 2,500 kilowatts, or enough juice to run 2,500 city apartments using air conditioners, microwaves, TVs, lights and other appliances, said ConsumersPowerline, a firm that helps save electricity and sell back the juice to the area power grids.