A City Shaped by Steam | Living City | The New York Times

With more than 100 miles of steam piping and nearly 2,000 buildings served, New York’s steam system is the largest in the world.

Produced by: Melanie Burford and Greg Moyer

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A City Shaped by Steam | Living City | The New York Times

[gmarshnyc]

Born and raised in NYC and never knew why steam rose from underground.

[seagull]

I didn't know what those steam vents were for until now, and I've been living in NYC for over 40 years!

[airguntherapy]

As a kid (from England) I watched so many movies filmed in New York. I'd ask family, friends, "Why is steam coming up through the streets?"
Never got an now. I thought it was just to create a scary atmosphere or something, like "I hear footsteps, what's beyond the steam?!"

[obsidianstatue]

LOL I've always thought the image of steam filled dark alleys of NYC in movies were special effects.

[DazeDream]

This explains SO MUCH about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

[Barskor]

Now if you bothered to properly insulate buildings the heating cooling costs could drop by 80%

[richschindler]

Great video. As a retired Local 94 operating engineer I’ve worked with steam my entire career.

[Luboman]

Fascinating. I did not know that steam was so integral to this city. Though I don't appreciate that they didn't explain what ConEd burns to gain the steam. Natural gas? Coal? Oil? Steam just doesn't magically appear out of the ground (unless you live on volcanic islands, like Iceland or Japan). And where are those emissions expelled? Near our neighborhoods? I would've liked to have known that tidbit.

[bartpaaddiator]

I am disappointed to see no mention of the vintage co-generation plants at Pratt University, which is a great example of how the technology NYU people mentioned was already utilized years ago. The Pratt plant is simply beautiful with its Victorian aesthetic.

[vscid]

lovely video. And all this time I wondered about the mysterious steam from NYC streets. Great work NYT

[thecitizenjoan]

Steam is what is part of Makes NYC so Cinematic especially at night

[GregMuender]

I love this Keep up the good work NYT. :)

[dmfraser]

I have been to NYC many times since 1979 and here in 2018 this totally new to me. Wow!.

[LastOfTheMaguas]

Long ago they decided to go this route to enhance New Yorker's self esteam.

[TheNormanmurk]

Everytime I went to the city I always wondered why those steam pipes were there. I just thought they were heating the lines underground or just letting off extra steam. I still dont get why it just runs out like that and it isn't in a line concentrated. Why would it leak? Pressure relief?

[iyquc]

If this were posted on April 1, I'd think it was an April Fools Joke. Cool stuff; thanks for creating this and posting it! I guess I was unwittingly imagining the 'bizarro' universe the last guy mentioned, b/c I am shocked that this is a huge part of New York City.

[EduardoSalazar-gdij]

As a steam fitter from California this is very cool. Its very impressive.

[usu]

How come the source of energy for producing the steam in the first place was not mentioned once?

What is it?

[mjribes]

I had never heard of a citywide steam system. Where else do they use these?

[Misterzr]

I always wondered why fight scenes inside building corridors in movies had steam pipes that would inevitable by broken and directed toward one of the parties.