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Cool Map: See How Much Energy Your NYC Block Consumes
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 1, 2012
Modified Feb 1, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 1, 2012
Modified Feb 1, 2012
Share
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Take a look at this interactive map of NYC's annual energy consumption by block. It's by Vijay Modi, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, and graduate student Bianca Howard. According to Metropolis, "Their research allows New Yorkers to get a rough idea of how much energy is used inside their homes, offices and businesses — and it offers a peek into the building next door, down the street and across the city. The goal of the project is to take some of the mystery out of energy usage."
Modi says, "Midtown Manhattan has more energy use than the whole country of Kenya, and New York state uses more energy than all of sub-Saharan Africa. There is just this intense use of energy in cities like New York." He and Howard estimated energy usage based on city data by zip code, and you can zoom at the block level to see how much various kinds of energy are used.
Things you'll see: Times Square, Midtown Manhattan and other commercial areas of the city (Silicon Alley) use a lot of energy, while residential areas use less (Staten Island, being mostly residential, uses very little relatively speaking).
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energy consumption
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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