Seattle—
The historic Paramount Theater in Seattle is going green, replacing its aging sign with a much more energy efficient one.The existing Paramount sign and marquis were built shortly after the theater opened in 1928 and members of the Seattle Theater Group say they can't last another winter.
"Back then things were built out of iron and after 81 years it's really weathered," says development director Kate Becker.
The theater is raising money for a new sign made out of aluminum and nearly 2,000 LED lights. The sign will look exactly like the original, but be much more environmentally friendly.
"The current bulbs use 11 watts of energy and the new bulbs will use 0.75 watts. That's more than a 90% energy savings and it will save us about $30,000 in electricity costs," says Becker.
The Seattle Theater Group has raised about 75% of the money needed and hopes to raise the last $150,000 in the next month.
You can make a five dollar donation by texting the word SIGN to 40579 if you are a customer of AT&T, T-Mobile or US Cellular. You can also donate online but going to http://stgpresents.org/signofthetimes.
