Here is my approach. Please Let me know if this seems reasonable:
-
-
Assuming - windows for buildings only, do we also want to include windows for cars, buses etc.?
-
A window is any form of a glass or fiber panel that allows for light to come in
-
Assuming NYC is 15 miles long and 4 miles wide -- > 60 square miles
-
Based on my experience, I have noticed that 40% of NYC is high rises for work or corporate offices. Thus 24 sq mile is occupied by high rises. The rest of the space are buildings for residential purposes.
-
Assuming NYC population: 8M users
-
Windows in NYC = Windows in tall corporate buildings + Windows in residential units
-
Windows in a tall building:
-
# of tall buildings * average # of windows per building
-
The number of tall buildings:
-
Per mile of walking in NYC, I have seen about 20 buildings
-
Assuming every building is 50 stories high on average
-
From my experience in a highrise, a tall corporate building is usually rectangular and surrounded by windows on 4 sides. On average I have seen 50 window panels on each side.
-
Thus every floor has 200 windows
-
# of windows per building 200*50 → 10000
-
# of high rise corporate buildings
-
20 buildings per mile
-
Thus for 24 sq miles, we have 24*20 → 480 highrises
-
-
Thus windows for 480 highrises → 48*10^5 windows ~ 4.8M windows -- (A)
-
-
-
Windows in Residential Units
-
8M residents
-
Assuming 3 residents per household → 8M/3 ~ 2.7M homes
-
20% of these are houses, 80% are flats or condo units
-
0.5M are houses and 2M are flats
-
Houses average windows are 15 windows
-
Flats average windows 8 windows
-
0.5M*15 + (8*2M) → 17M windows -- (B)
-
-