By Jennifer R Jones | Posted on February 09, 2010 12:00 PM
Kaufman Astoria Studios, New York's Historic Movie Studio, Is Going Green By Converting To A New Eco-Friendly Fuel, Produced By METRO, Making Them The Largest Commercial User
Kaufman Astoria Studios Goes Green
You may see movies in color, but the name of the game at New York’s Kaufman Astoria Studios is now green. The studio, currently home to “Sesame Street” and Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” starring Edie Falco (and future home of the “Smurfs” Movie, to be released next year--no, we can’t wait either) is converting to green energy. Kaufman Astoria is the oldest functioning movie studio in the city; more than 120 silent and sound films have been produced there.
They include the Marx Bothers’ “Animal Crackers,” as well as “The Wiz,” “All That Jazz,” and Woody Allen's "Radio Days.” The studio is switching from commonly used heating oil to a new mix of petroleum and biodiesel, produced by Brooklyn-based company METRO and known as “Greenheat.” It’s made from 5 percent biodiesel fuel (which includes used vegetable oil from restaurants, as well as soy and canola oils and algae) and 95 percent petroleum. The biodiesel burns much cleaner than oil and has no sulfur.
The Studio is Leading the Way
The studio will be supplied with 80,000 gallons of the fuel each year, which will earn it the distinction of being the largest commercial user of Greenheat in New York. METRO also supplies other distinctive clients--the Hampton Jitney (the bus service that ferries beachgoers to the tony Hamptons) and the City of New York. The company will be opening a 110-million-gallon processing plant in Brooklyn later this year, which will add not just cleaner energy--but a spate of new jobs as well.
