Ringing In 2009 With People Power - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

How many tourists in Times Square does it take to light up the “2009″ sign on New Year’s Eve?

137,228.

That’s how many people it took to generate enough electricity to light up the numerical display that will blaze after the clock strikes midnight and the ball drops over Times Square in Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Beginning Dec. 2, holiday visitors stopping by the Charmin public restrooms on Broadway and 45th St. could ride the escalator two flights up and hop on one of six stationary bicycles that looked like snowmobiles and were rigged to electric generators. The generators charged a set of four large batteries that will light the sign and help green the annual event.
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The “2009” sign is made up of 608 halogen bulbs that will require 7.25 kilowatt-hours of electricity to light up after the famous ball drop. By comparison, in 2006, the average residence in the United States consumed 920 kilowatt-hours per month.

The human-generated electricity will deliver enough juice to keep the bulbs blazing during the televised portion of the evening’s broadcast, or about fifteen minutes. Afterward, the sign will revert to the utility grid for power for the remainder of the night.

On the Stability of the Planet's Permafrost

Froese et al. say their observations indicate that "permafrost has survived within the discontinuous permafrost zone since at least the early-Middle Pleistocene," noting that "this age range includes several glacial-interglacial cycles ... considered to be longer and warmer than the present interglaication." Most important of all, therefore, they say their finding "highlights the resilience of permafrost to past warmer climate and suggests that permafrost and associated carbon reservoirs that are more than a few meters below the surface may be more stable than previously thought," taking much of the wind out of the sails of those who claim these carbon stores will soon be released to the atmosphere in consequence of what they call the unprecedented warming of the late 20th century and its projected continuation over the remainder of the current century.