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For the past 156 years, Steinway and Sons has been manufacturing pianos inside its Astoria factory. Now, it's adding solar panels to collect energy, so the company's future tune will be a little greener.

"Basically you have a lot of rooftop, you have a lot of flat rooftop, and also you have the ability to utilize the energy in the winter and the summer, which is very important," said Bill Rigos, Steinway's facilities manager.

The system will provide cool air to eliminate humidity and protect the pianos and materials used to make them. Each piano is created from 12,000 parts and takes about a year to handcraft and assemble.

Solar-heated water will be pumped into a chiller that cools and de-humidifies the air. In the winter, it will convert water to steam to help heat the factory.

"In general, we know it's a lot drier in the winter, a lot more humid in the summer," said Steinway and Sons Vice President of Manufacturing Andrew Horbachevsky. "What we are trying to do is really equalize all those conditions throughout the seasons."

The $900,000 project is partly funded through a state grant and federal tax credits.

The solar thermal system is expected to be up and running in May, while a new system to collect saw dust in the factory is already in operation. It will eventually work in concert with the solar panels.

"We've installed a closed loop, so now we're able to separate the sawdust from the conditioned air and re-circulate that back into the factory," said Horbachevsky.

The company says the projects were not only the right thing to do environmentally, but also economically.

"We're looking to cut energy costs," said the facilities manager. "The energy costs are not going to come down, we think they are going to continue rising, so it's in our best interest to maintain lower facility costs."

Energy costs the company around $2 million a year. Steinway hopes the new system will provide a savings of 15 to 25 percent; sweet music to their ears.