Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Solar Tree in Milan
As a part of a $55.7 million project that is being started at Logan Airport in Boston Massachusetts, the airport will be adding a number of “solar trees” to the top deck of their five-story parking garage. The trees will be solar panels that are mounted on long air ventilation units, soaking up the sun like actual tree branches. The 16 solar trees and the new energy-efficient lighting that is being installed will help alleviate the costs and carbon footprint of 51.5% of the garage’s energy consumption. This project, which will take place over the next three and half years, is part of a larger state plan to reduce the carbon footprint and increase the use of renewable resources by 2020.
Since their debut in 2007 on the streets of Austria, the trees have begun to grow around much of Europe, including Milan, Paris and Frankfurt, and could actually produce light for four days without absorbing any light, proving to be an effective means of lighting the streets. In the coming generations, these trees will be much more like sunflowers in the way that the head follows the sunlight to maximize the energy that it absorbs and will be able to contract their branches if the wind is too strong.
-Jackie Gallegos
Logan to Grow `Solar Trees' on Garage (by Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe)
Solar Trees Get to Root of Energy Crisis (by Lisa Botter, CNN)
Introducing the Solar Tree (by Jane Burgermeister, RenewableEnergyWorld.com)
Google Plants Solar Trees (by Marty Graham, Wired)
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