Con Edison is looking into using drones to help inspectors check out some of the city's towering steam boilers.
The utility says thermal reading cameras can reduce the time and cost it takes for workers to do an inspection.
The boilers provide steam for the city’s many iconic buildings like Grand Central Terminal, the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building, and produce 1.2 million pounds of steam an hour.
Workers usually have to build a 10-story scaffolding and crawl through confined spaces for inspections.
The drone can produce video in real time, allowing workers to analyze the situation immediately.