Livescience.com Artist rendering of the Ricoh billboard in Times Square to be located at Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. Credit: PRNewsFoto/Ricoh Americas Corporation image:41449:0::0

When this new billboard is raised in Times Square, it will be the first of its kind in the New York city, but will be the second in the U.S. and the third in the world according to Ricoh Americas Corporation's spokesman Russell Marchetta.

The billboard will show advertising about Ricoh Company Ltd. of Tokyo, the parent company for Ricoh Americas Corp. Ricoh sells office automation equipment products and supplies electronics parts. The billboard will measure 47 feet (14 meters) high by 126 feet (38 meters) long. The lights will be powered on-site by four wind turbines and 45 solar panels.

The new billboard will help reduce carbon dioxide usage by 18 tons a year according to Marchetta.

Ricoh already has a billboard in Japan powered entirely by solar and wind.

The new billboard will be located at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street in New York.

Marchetta said when there is poor sunlight or lack of winds, the billboard will not be lighted, though passersby can read the billboard without the lights during the day.

The first solar-powered billboard in the United States came last year when Pacific Gas and Electric erected one in San Francisco.

If other billboards in New York and Las Vegas does the same, then it will be good for the environment.