Old steam heating system. They vent it when they’re working on a section.
Side-note: surprised by all the fellow New Yorkers i’m seeing in this thread. I thought yous were still at the other place.
Yep. Detroit has this, too.
Yeah it’s common enough I figured most knew, but a few years ago I went ice skating at the bryant park rink with someone who refused to walk anywhere near the steam. They thought it was toxic and didn’t accept my explanation, so we had to walk an extra few blocks to get around the steam work. Shrug
I wonder if they could make it more efficient by running at a lower temperature and installing water source heat pumps in buildings. https://youtu.be/abGiNL9IT54
That’s a good idea! My understanding is that the old steam network is slated for decommission and replacement by this program, basically a large distributed geothermal heat pump network that also harvests from major heat producers like data centers and provides both heating and cooling.
It will end the era of the steamy-street Sin City aesthetic but should be many, many times more efficient than the old steam system. Phase-change thermal transfer in HVAC systems is nearing 400% efficiency, so 4 times more efficient than the theoretical limit of direct heating, because it only uses the energy necessary to move heat from one place to another rather than produce it, and it works for both heating and cooling.
Right now I believe they’re piloting the system in NYCHA buildings (public housing) of neighborhoods outside the old steam network, like Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, but supposedly the plan is to expand to the rest of Manhattan.
Edit: corrected coefficient of performance
Steam from the steamed hams we’re having
And you call them that even though they are obviously grilled?
excuse me for a minute
Believe it or not. Very old infrastructure in the city. Still runs on steam power.
I swear I thought this answer was about as accurate as the one that said “dragons”.
How steampunk for probably the largest city in the world to use steam in this day and age? I love it…
I’m going to have to interject, NYC is the 11th [or 35th] largest city.
11th, OR 35th? Could you explain?
It depends on how you define the city, here’s my source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities
I don’t know why they include the surrounding areas as part of the city population. The 5 boroughs is roughly 8 million people. If you live in jersey city, you shouldn’t be counted as part of nyc population
I don’t know why they care about population https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities_by_area clearly land is more important because land votes not people.
That list is from 2018
NYC didn’t grow any more populous since.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/nyregion/nyc-population-decline.html
Doesn’t mean other cities haven’t grown. Especially Chinese tech haven and trade hub cities are blowing up. If New York didn’t grow, it probably dropped several spots.
Or 3rd or 76th.
It’s from the streamed clams they’re having.
That’s the steam from the melting pot
There’s a really good explanation here:
Hot. Moist. Air.
it’s steam not air
You can’t see steam. It’s not visible to the naked eye.
No it is Moist. Air.
You know how when rockets take off in Florida there’s lots of smoke?
Yeah there’s a tunnel that goes from Florida to New York that the smoke goes through to help heat up the New York streets. So anytime you see smoke in New York it’s cause a rocket was recently shot up in Florida.
TechnologyInfrastructure is incredible!Ah yes, the classic New York fog machine. Turns out it’s not for dramatic effect—just the city’s 19th-century steam system still doing its thing. Who needs modern infrastructure when you’ve got built-in Gotham vibes?
Dragons.
It’s the only explanation that fits
Hundred plus year old infrastructure.
They use a lot of steam for heating still
Volcano under the city
The CHUDs are having a BBQ. Guess the markets closed for the day.
I think it’s important, at this point, to differentiate between NYC CHUDs, and your common racist shitbag chud. NYC CHUDs are many things, but not racist dickbags.
I’m just referencing the movie, but if you think that there are not racists in NYC, you haven’t talk to enough New Yorkers.
the mutants who live beneath nyc are not the fuckwit racists.
That’s not smoke. It’s a space station.
That’s no moon, it’s… oh, wait… shit.
