• Mediaweek, Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:33 AM

In the next few weeks, Ricoh will launch a Times Square digital billboard powered by 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels. The sign's technology, by WePOWER, is supposed to save $12,000 to $15,000 a month in electricity and 18 tons of carbon per year.

Ricoh, the Japanese copy and photo manufacturer, joins Coca-Cola, which on New Year's Eve launched a wind-powered digital sign at 47th and Broadway.

WePOWER expects to work directly with advertisers on about 25 custom applications of its technology this year and is also talking to outdoor media companies about ways they can apply its technology. The company says that if the nation's 500,000 billboards were to use wind power, they could reduce about 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide currently being emitted into the air.

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