Last month, we wrote about the new ‘green billboard‘ that Ricoh is building in NYC’s Time Square. Green Fever must have hit the Great White Way, because now comes an announcement of a partnership between the city and Broadway to lower the theater district’s carbon footprint. “Broadway Goes Green” is a practical initiative that doesn’t require wholesale changes to the way business (and entertainment) is done on Broadway, but rather it looks to maximize efficiency, reduce unnecessary waste and educate employees and theater goers about a variety of conservation practices.

Those measures include changing the iconic marquees lights to bulbs with five times the efficiency of current bulbs. Inside the theater, lights in hallways, closets and backstage areas are also being switched to compact fluorescents or LEDs. As Mayor Bloomberg explains, “by this time next year the lights on Broadway will burn just a little bit brighter, but our energy bills will be a little bit lower, and our carbon footprint will be as well.” The challenge is to strike a reasonable balance between sustainability and commercial interests, but theater owners are beginning to appreciate the ways in which those two sets of interests are linked. David Stone, a producer of “Wicked,” acknowledged, “the theater community has always been at the forefront of social change, and we have been left behind on this one a little bit.”

Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, who is acting as an advisor for “Broadway Goes Green,” is encouraging the industry to consider other simple changes, such as recycling of Playbills and introducing eco-friendly guidelines for the trucking and transportation needs of each production. As he explains it, lasting change will be accomplished through “cumulative effect of a lot of small actions.”

For more info, read Stephen McElroy’s piece in the NY Times.