The world-famous symbol of industrial and scientific advances, the Eiffel tower, received a renewable technology make-over this month. Two super quiet and humble, vertical axis wind turbines, disguised in the colour of the tower, generate clean energy unnoticed.
There is no better monument in the world than the famous tower in Paris that can not only benefit from energy efficient, renewable energy technologies, but also promote them as the definition of this century’s advances in science and engineering. Just as it was back in the late 1880s when the tower was erected, the gigantic metal work still serves as a proud symbol of what great scientific and engineering minds can achieve.
This past decades will definitely be remembered as the years of incredible developments in the field of renewable and green technologies. Generating green energy, especially from solar and wind, has never been more efficient, and consequently, more widely used ever before, and this is only likely to change for the better in the coming years.
Major tech giants are powering huge data centers with renewables, investors are putting their money on projects that lead to developments of bigger and better technologies, everything that is anything is becoming much cooler and more popular if it has a green-feel to it, and the best part of all this is that governments are encouraging and supporting this progress.
In this respect, it only makes sense that the symbol of technological progress is kept up to speed with the latest trends. With an aim to implement more efficient way of operation, the guys responsible for maintaining and promoting the Eiffel Tower decided to make it generate its own power. They supported the installation of two vertical axis wind turbines, which generate the a very impressive maximum of 10,000kWh of electricity per year.
The wind turbines are placed at around 400 feet from ground level and are completely unnoticeable. They are painted in the exact same colour as the tower, and make close to zero noise.
The great green tech was built and installed by the NY-based Urban Green Energy firm, whose aim was to make a humble green addition to the tower. It has to produce enough power to make a difference for the monument, but it was not supposed to attract the eyes of visitors, and give any reason to critics to rant about it.
Along with the wind turbines, the green features of the Eiffel Tower include energy efficient window glazing, LED lights, brand new solar array, and a rain water collector.
Now, this is what I call a green makeover to be proud of.
Image (c) UGE
So, the Eiffel Tower has rotors now?
The French police noticed drones flying over Paris these past two nights, is this somehow related? 😉