Earth Equity News

Lights Out for Boston's Tall Towers. By Casey Ross, BGlobe, September 3, 2008. "Property owners [of Boston's tallest office buildings], acting at the request of Mayor Thomas M. Menino, have agreed to shut off the lights at 34 skyscrapers from the Back Bay to the South Boston waterfront -- a move that will save about 25 percent in energy used for lighting. The pilot program -- which [started on Wednesday and] involves extinguishing the lights above the 30th floor between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. -- will continue through Oct. 31, but city officials said they expect to make it a permanent program at all high-rise buildings... The initiative, by far Boston's most aggressive effort to reduce energy use, comes as cities around the world have tried to raise environmental awareness by turning off the lights for one hour on a designated night. Boston could become the first city to keep them off year-round, if the program catches on the way officials hope. The effort, dubbed Lights Out Boston, comes as Menino prepares to host a national green building conference in November, when more than 25,000 people will flock to Boston to discuss cutting-edge environmental policies. In 2007, the mayor set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 and to cut them 80 percent by 2050... The program is also timed to take effect during the fall's migratory bird season, when many bird species are thrown off course by lights emanating from skyscrapers along the East Coast. A top executive at Mass Audubon, which helped plan the initiative, said scientific studies have documented the impact of city lights on migratory birds, spurring several major cities such as Chicago and Toronto to institute lights-out policies."