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posted by janrinok on Wednesday February 25 2015, @11:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the renewables-rock dept.

The Center for American Progress reports

As part of its first major retrofit in 30 years, two custom-designed wind turbines have started generating power for the Eiffel Tower. Located above the World Heritage Site's second level, about 400 feet off the ground, the sculptural wind turbines are now producing 10,000 kWh of electricity annually, equivalent to the power used by the commercial areas of the Eiffel Tower's first floor. The vertical axis turbines, which are capable of harnessing wind from any direction, were also given a custom paint job to further incorporate them into the iconic monument's 1,000-foot frame. At the same time they bring the image of the 1889 tower firmly into the 21st Century.

[...]In addition to the wind turbines, the renovation includes energy efficient LED lighting, high-performance heat pumps, a rainwater recovery system, and 10 square meters of rooftop solar panels on the visitor pavilion.

There was no required renewable energy target for the Eiffel Tower's facelift, but the project developers see it as a major landmark in Paris' climate plan. The city's plan(PDF) aims for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 25 percent drop in energy consumption, and for 25 percent of energy to come from renewable energy sources by 2020.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday February 26 2015, @08:33AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday February 26 2015, @08:33AM (#149887) Journal

    What I want to know is how many millions of euros got pissed away in the retrofit project and for somebody to do the math on how many decades will be required to hit the breakeven point... if ever.

    C'mon, j, you do not want to know this! You already do! Or at least suspect in your own mind. But again you miss the point. Eiffel Tower. Kind of a national monument. Symbolic greening does not have to break even. Do you thing Jimmy Carter's solar panels on the White House ever broke even? Of course not, since Reagan had them removed well before end-of-life. Now we will just never know.

    So let's just talk about Antropogenic Global Warming, since the data on that is much more available. And if you have a predetermined Republican talking point all set up, that is OK too. Just be prepared for some criticism. As Stephen Colbert famously said: "Reality has a well know liberal bias!"

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