Environmental Leader

In August, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised the temperatures at U.N. headquarters by 5 degrees; from 72 to 77 degrees in offices, and 72 to 75 degrees in conference rooms. The initiative has been so successful that it is now being extended to September 15, AP reports.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas told AP that the “Cool U.N.” experiment has saved 30 million pounds of steam, or about 2,000 metric tons of CO2 – the equivalent of 710 round-trip trans-Atlantic flights.

Montas said a winter program is under consideration.

In an effort to reduce energy consumption, New York City Mayor Bloomberg recently signed a bill requiring stores to keep their doors closed when operating air conditioning systems.

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