December 26, 2008

New York Times article by James Barron announces that Steinway & Sons’ installs world’s largest solar-powered cooling, dehumidifying and heating system at its Astoria factory. The cost of the system is $870,000. Steinway & Sons has received a $588,000 grant for the project from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and, at the time of the publication, has expressed the expectation to claim $266,000 in federal solar-energy tax credits. The system comes with a weather station that has a wind gauge. The solar panels had been designed to withstand 100-mile-an-hour gusts, and the computer control system can stow the panels so they don’t fly off into the airspace of the nearby La Guardia Airport.