Greener Side of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree

Posted on 12-21-2018

In 1931, a tree was placed in Rockefeller Center that stood only 20 feet tall and stood on a wooden crate.  Scrap paper and tin cans made up the decorations, and no energy was needed.  Fast forward to 2018 where a 72-foot tall was delivered on November 10th to Rockefeller Center.  Unlike the simple tree of 1931, this tree requires a lot of energy.  Update have been made through the recent years to make the tree more green.

2005

This was the first year that the tree lumber was donated to Habitat for Humanity to make door frames. This tradition of lumber being sent to Habitat for Humanity continues today.

2007

Incadescent lights were switched to more than 30,000 energy-saving LED Christmas lights.  The switch reduced energy consumption from 3,510 to 1,297 kWh per day.  In addition to the lights, 363 solar panels were installed that are tied to the city grid to help power the tree.

2018

This year's tree is decorated with 50,000 multi-colored LED lights.  There's also a new sparkly addition to the tree...a newly designed tree star topper.  This 70 spike star is made up of over 3 million Swarovski crystals.  The mix of double cone crystals give off a brighter sparkle with the LED backlight glowing.

Whether you are in NYC enjoying the beautiful Rockefeller Center tree or in your own home enjoying the lights this time of year, we hope that you and yours have a truly wonderful Christmas!