The Bloomberg administration, just weeks after instituting the first hiring freeze in five years and calling on city agencies to find areas in their budget to cut, has announced it is spending $80 million this year to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and is setting aside 10% of its energy budget over the next decade to expand on the initial effort.

The city estimates it will spend $35.3 million on new lighting systems in city buildings, $5 million to replace about 200 city cars with hybrid vehicles, and $500,000 to string energy-efficient lights on the Brooklyn Bridge in place of its current 100-watt mercury vapor lamps.

The city also is launching a pilot program to provide the police department and fire department with 20 GMC Yukon sport-utility vehicles that are hybrids. They will be used in place of other SUVs to respond to emergencies.

City operations and buildings account for approximately 6.5% of New York’s total energy use, and the city estimated its short-term plan would reduce emissions by 34,000 tons annually. It is aiming to cut its emissions by 1.1 million tons by 2017.

When asked about the tight budget facing the city, Mayor Bloomberg sought to justify the new spending, saying the project is a relatively tiny expense when compared with the city’s total budget of $59 billion.

A City Council member of Queens, James Gennaro, called for the creation of a task force to promote environmental jobs, saying yesterday that he wants to create a green workforce career center to train unemployed New Yorkers for work that will improve the environment.