How NYC Lights Up More Than 1,000,000 Buildings - NYC Revealed

Keeping the lights on in New York City is no easy task. New Yorkers demand billions of watts of electricity per day, much more than the city itself can produce. As New York moves towards a greener future, generating this vast amount of electricity will require rethinking how the city generates its energy.
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[@radude4763]

I love this narrator. It gives me early 2000s history channel vibes!

[@qicle]

right! Kinda tired of the ‘pumpkin spice Becky ’ voice lol

[@cheddar]

Right? That's what we were going for. With a bit of a modern twist.

[@tylerkostich6203]

To be honest, I'm not sure I really like it that much. I actually liked the cheesiness of old cheddar videos (I mean, it's right in the name).

[@kevindelarosa329]

That’s right 😁

[@adamwishneusky]

The voice is so announcery at first I thought it was computer-generated 😆

[@tayzonday]

It would take 200 million people peddling on exercise bikes nonstop to power the 8.8 million residents of New York City.

[@cheddar]

Is that a fact? lol

[@tayzonday]

@@cheddar Yes. I did it based on 11,500 megawatts of peak power and 60 watts generated per bike - cause those exercise bikes at a museum always power 60 watt incandescent bulbs. It actually came out to 191.66 million bikes.

[@ryang6k]

reminds me of that one black mirror episode where everyone is constantly riding on exercise bikes

[@julianshepherd2038]

How many offshore wind turbines?

[@MrGriff305]

@@tayzonday The random setup of powering a 60 watt bulb doesn't all that accurately predict the output of peddling a bike, but your estimate is better than my nonexistent one!

[@devinlin7011]

can you guys do a series on how the MTA subway system works? like inside the control room and everything

[@jermainevaughn2698]

That would be nice

[@jerrydellasala7643]

As someone who lived through three major blackouts in NYC (plus the one on 9/11 when I didn't lose power even though I lived a mile from WTC and neighboring buildings went dark), I never take electricity for granted! Especially since I was living on the 20th Floor during the last one and had to walk up to my dark apartment.

[@verticalfracture]

Count yourself lucky. We had a blackout during the snowpocalypse here in Atlanta. Im on the 37th floor and had to do the same thing coming home.

[@AneudiD78]

My area Lower East Side/Chinatown didn't experience a blackout during 9/11, that's news to me! When I experienced the 2003 blackout, I appreciated the electricity when it came back on a day later.

[@thatyoutubeguy7583]

Back in 2020 a super storm in Iowa took out power for almost a week. Luckily I had a power pack which I recharged off my car. Gas ran out so quick with people running them for generators

[@thatWanderingSoul]

​@@verticalfracturei experienced a similar blackout but thankfully I lived on the ground floor.

[@paranoidz6]

I appreciate this series, which makes me appreciate stuff i took for granted! Its a testament to their NYC flawless work that we never realise how smooth water/electricity is here

[@MrGriff305]

Well put.. I think one key to life is appreciating things that others take for granted.

[@Genesis19-26]

Too bad theyre shutting down indian point. Nuclear is the cleanest, safest, most efficient power source until fusion reactors are feasible

[@greenmachine5600]

Agreed

[@RailTV01]

they should have run it till 2030

[@mendonesiac]

I'm not sure how anyone aware of Fukushima or Chernobyl can claim that nuclear is the 'safest' source of power.

[@RailTV01]

@@mendonesiac how many died in Fukushima? Thousands die in solar plants every year, coal plants emitted more radiation than all nuclear disasters combined. It's like plane vs car. Noobs think plane is unsafe because they get the news of plane crashes. In reality car is thousand times dangerous

[@Genesis19-26]

@@mendonesiac There have been many environmental impact studies on fukushima showing radiation damage was below any level longterm harmful to humans. In the short term, between 0 and 1 death was attributed to reactor meltdown. Chernobyl has a massive debate surrounding its longterm fatality figure, I'd look into it if you're interested, there are good points on both sides. A good metric to look at here is TWh/Death rate for production, you'll see that nuclear is always on par or less than solar or wind

[@MarksmanSpecialist]

it's rare to experience nyc without any electricity, this only happened once in a lifetime during hurricane sandy, still remember the airy and quietness after the incident. Pitch black of the night and no car traffic.

[@ThecrazyJH96]

When Covid was at its peak it wasn’t similar?

[@Undecided0]

@@ThecrazyJH96 There weren't any blackouts during COVID's peak.

[@Undecided0]

There was the blackout of 2003. That was almost the whole Northeast.

[@someguy9778]

Yep, the big blackout was bigger.

[@Raining345]

I live in NYC. I can confirm that the source of our electricity is simply a hamster on a wheel.

[@malehumanersgaming4706]

keep it on mind that hamster is mutated

[@chuckscott4661]

An XHampster 🐹

[@lourencovieira5424]

7:20 Thats who I thought controlled the traffic lights as a kid, that room is cool as hell

[@RichJordan3]

I love this series of videos. Hope new topics are started after NYC

[@ThecrazyJH96]

How it’s made narrator voice with a twist, love it

[@qonra]

This is pretty relevant to me right now lol, I live in Kaohsiung TW and we just had a massive blackout for the whole day which swept across the entirety of Taiwan, all because of a single failure triggering safety shutdowns like a line of dominos

[@sylviaisgod6947]

Chinese will be invading soon without the US to stop them, so that sounds like the least of your worries.

[@Undecided0]

That happened here in NYC & most of the Northeast in 2003.

[@DJmcRUSH]

I still believe modern nuclear power stations is the way to go. New systems are safer than ever, with nearly to waste.

[@ThecrazyJH96]

Nuclear is the future

[@kirkrotger9208]

Too bad they cost some 5x as much as solar and wind and take 10x as long to come online.

[@mr.randomgamer888]

@@kirkrotger9208 yeah, but I think they're great as a baseline source

[@henkdekraai5290]

@@kirkrotger9208 Well, they produce more than ten times the power solar stations etc. produce.

[@kirkrotger9208]

@@henkdekraai5290 Not per dollar.

[@patentexperts1675]

Solar and wind can not replace all fossil fuels electric production, Hydro and Nuclear are the two best providers of clean and low cost power. ALSO: funny to hear that even after 100 years that NY City relies heavily on the Niagara Power Plant.

[@toomanymarys7355]

The point is not to replace but to move you down to peasant status with massively regulated access to energy.

[@vyros.3234]

Hydro is incredibly location dependent and nuclear has lots of stigma around it. Use geothermal locations where it works, use hydro in locations where it works, use wind in locations where it works and is needed, fix the stigma towards nuclear energy, and ue rooftop solar when none of the other options work. Rooftop solar will probably be used a ton due to how many off the power grid homes there are in rural areas. Solar will replace the gas homes.

[@fowlplayfunnyfarm1234]

One windmill blade, just the blade getting shipped requires an ENTIRE flatbed semi trailer to transport. No to mention the materials needed to manufacture these “renewables”. Yes the quotes are on purpose……3-4 pilot cars to run interference. How many electric transport trucks would be needed just to fill that need? How much land needs cleared? (Living in Kansas with many windmills thanks to the bloody wind all the time.) I can tell you it’s thousands of acres. And the goal is to build thousands of windmills? One is truly ignorant when you don’t recognize that EVERY THING you have ate or touched has fossil fuels attached to it. Hey AOC, newsflash….. hello….your makeup 💄 comes from fossil fuels. Hey green protestors…..the clothes you wear are made of fossil fuels. So is the sign your carrying, with marker and paint on it. Yup. All brought to you by fossil fuels….hey Chris cuomo your brand new house required fossil fuels to build, required earth to be moved and destroyed because the home you had wasn’t good enough somehow…..oh bloody well I could go on…you better wake up people.😮

[@kaymish6178]

Old powerplants like Indian point..." Indian point with 20 years left of designed operation life left :| New York: "we need to decarbonise our electricity grid." Shuts down biggest source of carbon free electricity. Carbon emissions go up. New York :o shocked pickachu face

[@sc1338]

If people are serious about lowering carbon emissions Nuclear is the best option by far.

[@toomanymarys7355]

I vote for building a wall and snipping the the power lines now...

[@toomanymarys7355]

@@sc1338 Soooooo, since they refuse nuclear, what do you think their ACTUAL goal is?

[@sc1338]

@@toomanymarys7355 I think some actually believe we can actually stop climate change, but most just have no idea what would happen if we cripple ourselves with banning ICE vehicles and fossil fuels in general. I’m 100% behind nuclear energy. SC has the most nuclear power plants In the nation and its great!

[@davidgravereaux1220]

Cuomo is an idiot for closing down Indian Point

[@alexandermiller2975]

The eastern interconnection is actually one of three major electric grids in the US and Canada. The others are the western interconnect and-believe it or not-Texas. Texas has an isolated electrical grid, and that’s one of the many reasons that the February 2021 winter storm was so brutal on the grid.

[@mister_i9245]

That assumes you consider the Texan one to be major, Quebec also has their own grid.

[@kaymish6178]

Texas is not a major ekectrigrid though. It doesn't even cover the whole of texas. The areas near Louisiana are running on their electric grid because the big business's there need stable reliable power and knew a small interconnect like Texas wouldn't be able to handle it, and they were right.

[@catsbyondrepair]

Texas tried to go with wind and solar and it bit them in the ass.

[@mister_i9245]

@@catsbyondrepair The vast majority of Texas' energy comes from Coal and Natural Gas, pretty much all of Texas' energy sources failed because they didn't properly winterize them. Blaming wind and especially solar which makes up 1% of Texas' energy seems rather silly when they weren't the only ones to fail.

[@patentexperts1675]

@@mister_i9245 The Quebec Grid powers electric heaters in the winter in Montreal and the province of Quebec and then in the summer months NY buys the excess power from the Quebec Grid to power air conditioning units in NY.

[@JJ-si4qh]

Cheddar is so much better now than it used to be

[@waynemontpetit8181]

Way better than Mashed.

[@mats7492]

I love this series Im learning so much about my favorite city

[@ThisIsntmyrealnameGoogle]

I know Paris is called the "city of lights" but NYC will forever to me be more fit for that name.

[@joshstrattn]

I love the narrator's voice. He reminds me of older informational videos. I look forward to these every week.

[@dwayne7356]

Big Alice at Ravenwood is not the biggest single generator in the Eastern United States. It might be the largest single combined cycle unit. There is 1 nuclear power plant in New York and 3 nuclear power plants with single turbines that generate over 1100 mwe each in New Jersey.

[@sccengr]

To be clear for others, it's "Big Allis" as in Allis Chalmers the prime builder of the plant. Not named after someone's sister.

[@Kurst535]

@@sccengr it is also not a combined cycle unit. Big Allis is a simple cycle unit, which also rarely ever runs. On the site there is another unit that is a 1-1 combined cycle.

[@rodserling6955]

Big allis turbine i worked on many times...for Con ed..

[@xDreamSmp]

The topics you choose to make Video on are just awesome and full of knowledge

[@diegoochoa572]

Loving the "how it's made" narration!

[@paulstring]

Sounds like they need to start building a new, state-of-the-art nuclear plant

[@toomanymarys7355]

You miss the point of this exercise. They don't want you to remain in your current lifestyle. You will live in zee pods and eat zee boogs.

[@davidgravereaux1220]

The NuScale reactors have the safety certification to be placed inside the city limits. Their Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) is the site's perimeter fence

[@radude4763]

Yo its modern marvels 2022 love this so much!!!!

[@helencabalpinbaquiller2103]

Thanks for sharing this video I've learn a lot .

[@zxcytdfxy256]

I love this video format and the narrator is amazing

[@newbie8051]

Wish we had a similar channel for Mumbai... such an interesting city, much like NYC but very limited coverage in English..... Great video tho

[@KrishnaAdettiwar]

Mumbai is cool but it’s no NYC, not by a long shot

[@newbie8051]

@@KrishnaAdettiwar There's potential tho.....

[@EBProductions]

Nuclear?? How can anyone be serious about clean energy without nuclear

[@sc1338]

Exactly. Nuclear is the only realistic option. People are ignorant if they think otherwise

[@tjlovesrachel]

They aren’t serious… that’s the issue …. It’s all a dream and they think that wind and solar are the only solutions…. Personally if we built a geothermal plant over Yellowstone we could really be in business… but I’m not trying to ruin that national treasure

[@zandercruz3487]

1-2 nuclear power plants would take care of all your needs.

[@someguy9778]

Yeah, just like SimCity

[@trentbateman]

Yea and they just shut Indian Point plant

[@theroman2130]

I love this series so much.

[@ale5punk]

I was thinking about this today!!!

[@raajaahrajalterego2607]

I just came across this channel I love it I love it I love it I don't feel like I'm cheating education or anything academically because this channel even in the snippet is really in depth, great voice great illustration.. And then 30 minutes you really gain many spoons of understanding and variety even aspects of one single topic lastly I'm not limited great energy invoice so as a consumer I will be back I've subscribed and I thank you and that's all LOL

[@NotBROLL]

6:57 at the NYC power monitor place, poor guy uses a space heater by his desk.

[@tjlovesrachel]

It’s bc it’s kept cool in there bc of all the monitors and stuff

[@TheFrostcave]

Just want to add the eastern interconnect goes roughly from Canada to Florida Atlantic ocean to Mississippi river NY is part of an even bigger grid

[@robertbl7500]

Good stuff! !

[@stillthakoolest]

Renewables will need a fossil fuel backup until grid energy storage is fully realized. New nuclear is the best way forward.

[@whatever_12]

Here an idea.. Do other city too like Tokyo underground storm containers, Rio de.., Copenhagen water barrier (they are building a huge island) Vienna Face-lift of its historic building etc..

[@sidali2590]

Really like interesting documentary like these

[@georgeheld1901]

11:47 simple! build a nuclear plant of the same size on that lot, and it would produce over 2/3rds of NYC's energy! :)

[@sitdowndogbreath]

Vermont used to get 75% of electricity from one Nuclear Power Plant it was called Vermont Yankee it is now shut down and being decommissioned

[@silentracer911]

To think we need clean energy and someone thought it a great idea to close the only nuclear plant in the area… Indian Point

[@davidgravereaux1220]

Yes, the safest way to produce electricity is Nuclear. Look it up

[@kainbrown7893]

Should do a California/L.A video on the same topic that'd be interesting

[@garrison.s.9639]

Texas needs to watch this to get their grid in check

[@Brokeloco]

Why does the Conedison guy sound just like Pete Davidson… 😂 taking about the Turbines lol

[@ChuckSilva]

Verrrrrry professional and stylish-not an easy feat !

[@SJR_Media_Group]

Most modern steam generators use up to 3 turbines to capture as much energy as possible. First is the high pressure unit. Steam from that then goes to second middle pressure unit. After that, what ever steam is left over goes to low pressure unit. After that, steam is cooled and water is reused or goes into nearby water body. The fact they can generate 180 megawatts in a small compact turbine is amazing.

[@jrunner5k]

I know lots of the old buildings were heated with steam. Are any of the new ones still heated that way and are the new power plants sending steam out?

[@SJR_Media_Group]

@@jrunner5k Thanks for comment. Those are very good questions. Sadly I have no answers. Time to 'Google'.

[@frankjones5770]

Just rode the the nyc ferry yesterday just for the view and it went by Ravenwood. Wish I new the story on it and now I do

[@Spacedog79]

Closing down Indian Point alone more than wiped out all the wind and solar gains in the state. Nuclear is the only clean and reliable way to power a big metropolitan grid like this, those pitiful few kw of solar on that rooftop are just window dressing for the fossil fuels that do the real work.

[@trentbateman]

Shhhhhh. That doesn’t fit their narrative

[@kc0eks]

Great narrator and video

[@5414vivek]

How does shutting down Indian point working out for newyork? That 1000 megawatt of clean energy has been replaced by fossil fuel. Gotta love "environmentalists". 👏

[@glori30175]

IP 3 was PASNY it was 1000 MGWT,also Entergy Unit 2 was 1000 MGWT too!Indian Point had 2000 Mega watts of Power!

[@chriswaldrip2739]

This series has been great!

[@Steadyy21]

Great information But, the guys that work in the streets making repairs are the real hero’s.

[@Matthew_Does_To_Many_Things]

Nuclear power plants are good! We need them. The should open that shut down one up.

[@kirkrotger9208]

"Long Island City" "Low-income neighborhoods." Pick one.

[@mohammedhoque7671]

Lic not long island lmao

[@kirkrotger9208]

@@mohammedhoque7671 LIC is one of the Wealthiest neighborhoods outside Manhattan. Far moreso than anywhere on LI other than the Hamptons.

[@Mike-wt7jq]

NYC has very iconic double guywire mastarm traffic lights and streetlights with its full loop, quarter loops, and standard streetlights. Now we know what keeps them on.

[@richardbaker2701]

This gives me hope for the future. Together we the people can turn this around!

[@tjlovesrachel]

Lmaoooo …, you can wish in one hand and shit in the other … tell me what one fills up first

[@Ignisan_66]

What a sheep.

[@henrysantos121]

New York cities the cities never sleep Peace and love.🙏.

[@richardhaas39]

Trivial point: The building lit up red and green at the 11:37 mark does not get its electricity from Con Ed. It gets it from Metro North. It was the headquarters for the New York Central Railroad. Now it is the Helmsley Building.

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

I wonder whether an instalment on what now sits at the WTC site is forthcoming..? Great show anyway.

[@andrewburnett8743]

here in northwest ohio we have a pocket of enormous windmills a couple hundred of them, all the power from them goes straight to New York we cant but that power for ourselves, they actually have to break them a lot because they outpace demand

[@Undecided0]

I remember someone telling me as a kid that the MTA is the bones of NYC & Con-Ed are the arteries of NYC.

[@cevxj]

Can’t keep up 😲 is there going to be a compiled doc?

[@badboy8739]

great video. the narrator sounds like the guy from how its made.

[@phillipkalaveras1725]

NY average electricity rate is 14.34 cents/kWh, as compared to the US national average of 10.53 cents per kWh. Out in Calif despite having oil and natural gas spewing free from the ground you all paying about 50 cents/kWh and your gov just approved an 18% rate increase.

[@danmcclaren5436]

I love this narrator!

[@genuinegraphicdesign7129]

This narrator can talk about anything and I’d listen

[@harevalkyrie5373]

Spoiler, it's lightbulbs.

[@cheddar]

We are going to have to remove this comment

[@harevalkyrie5373]

@@cheddar hahaha, if you have to

[@sylviaisgod6947]

@@harevalkyrie5373 It's still there, life is good....

[@benfarber9738]

real how its made vibes from the narrirator

[@evolancer211]

Inverters and battery suppliers for the microgrids?

[@corpsiecorpsie_the_original]

When will NYC fix its light pollution problem?

[@tjlovesrachel]

Lmaooooo are you for real

[@jonasosa5126]

Could have sworn I told KZbin to stop recommending this channel

[@kozmaz87]

Billions of watts/day... that makes 0 sense. Is it billions of Watthours/day?

[@MrMcMoments]

Even in the NY-Powerplants the Austrian flag is present! Nice :D

[@mitchellbliss3828]

This is for sure a licensed history channel episode of modern marvels, edited by chedder dude down to a short video, with a few inserted title cards lol

[@daveotuwa5596]

The worst time ever besides 9/11 was Superstorm Sandy, the mightiest hurricane ever. The feminine-named storm shut down all the lights to cause businesses to shut down as well. Less damage in NY. More in NJ.

[@tjlovesrachel]

It’s hurricane sandy….HURRICANE… stop saying superstorm… that’s a made up term for insurance reasons

[@genuinegraphicdesign7129]

Love the narrator

[@mikemallon5201]

How'd they get the guy from how it's made to narrate this 😍

[@clemensspaar6281]

there is no chance, you will stop climate change with green roofs

[@alphaapple1375]

I know for a fact that LED light bulbs are very energy-efficient that they consume around 10 watts. They last for about tens of thousands hours, allowing you to rely on them for tens of years. In comparison, an incandescent light bulb consumes around 100 watts and has a shorter lifespan of around 1,000 hrs, which was exactly why LED light bulbs are the better option. They could save you some money.

[@monicaperez2843]

Changed all my lighting to LEDs, including my fluorescent fixtures in my kitchen and bathroom. Not only saved me a lot of money, but also are brighter than any other bulbs! Also saves the planet, too, because they use a lot less electricity!

[@r.d.9399]

NYC is a huge drag on the state of New York. They seriously need to get their shit together down there.

[@AirSoftFattyIsMyDaddy]

Is this the narrator from Modern Marvels and How It's Made?

[@RandomYT05_01]

Ironic youtube recommends this video in the middle of a power outage.

[@pierreroy8124]

No mention of the subways… interesting…

[@mrryan123100]

I love this series but I grew up 15 minutes from Robert Moses State Park from the beginning of the video and it is definitely not in the town they said it is in.

[@Undecided0]

Not Robert Moses State Park in Fire Island. Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant near Niagara Falls.

[@wingn3849]

Luckily for the planet New York is known to do things on time and not a day later * cough * 2nd Ave Subway * cough *

[@frankgrima]

Renewable should called intermittent power, I guarantee they are not lighted up with solar panels and wind turbines.

[@Therealmoseslupai]

Can’t wait to visit the BIG 🍎 ONE DAY SOON.

[@prabhushankar8520]

Good.

[@winmetawin6950]

It's so pretty yet so saddening

[@johnmalmendier6755]

Big Allis is a engine built by Allis calender not a furnace

[@Faceplay2]

Lol I never got why NYC is called the city that never sleeps. It’s not like it’s Vegas with everything being open 24 hours a day.

[@stopmakingsense9915]

Vegas is a carnival. Not a city. There is no comparison between the two.

[@Faceplay2]

@@stopmakingsense9915 So still doesn’t matter, A lot of states have things open quite a bit later than New York City New York City is a slum over priced overpopulated disgusting cesspool. Full of nothing but homeless people and violence.

[@altonyoung8869]

And I bet you still couldn’t find a iPhone charger if you worked there

[@squiglemcsquigle8414]

A single city in the US has a slower carbon neutral plant than large major countries

[@kincamell2]

Heavy.

[@Onionbagel]

The easiest thing to do would be to adopt France's Nuclear System... It's so much safer than it used to be, and the cleanest form of energy. Renewable is an expensive process, and in the beginning will no doubt require fossil fuel emissions to fully integrate. Cuomo actually made things worse for New Yorkers. The lobbiest have already shut down nuclear power plants, and this year alone New Yorker's had to suffer with more 200% increase in electric bills. Anyone who thinks renewable energy will solve this problem in the long run, especially for a densely populated city like New York, you are living a pipe dream fantasy.

[@alwynkruger5956]

Daily megawatts usage?

[@jean-mathieuleblanc6226]

Coming from Quebec with 100% renewable from the sixties and plenty to spare..... it quite troubling to see "the greatest country on earth" stuck with all those issues..... maybe the listen too much the greedy rich and their lobbyist....

[@frankjones5770]

Wouldn't adding plants on top of buildings make the blow in the wind harder?

[@gigitytown540]

Low key narrator is the how its made guy voice lol nostalgic

[@hvguy]

I bet if they cleaned up corruption for 1 year, the funds would pay for the whole state to convert everything over to renewable energy in no time 🤣