Dubai – Solar Palm Trees
These solar powered palm trees can be found scattered around Dubai and were designed for people to look up city information, access Wi-Fi, and charge their phones all for absolutely free! They are each topped with nine leaf shaped photovoltaic modules. These creations are able to generate around 7.2 kilowatt hours per day, enough to operate without ever having to draw off the grid– impressive huh? Not only are these trees incredibly useful, efficient and friendly to the environment, they look pretty amazing too! Way to go Dubai.
Brisbane – World’s largest solar powered footbridge
Brisbane is home to The Kurilpa Bridge- the world’s largest solar powered footbridge. The bridge features LED lights which are powered by 84 solar panels. The system allows the lights to perform various lighting effects and has become a huge tourist attraction for Brisbane. All electric work was done by Stowe Australia and the constructions costs topped $63 million! The bridge has become the heart of the annual Riverfire celebrations in Brisbane- a real must see attraction!
Paris – The Eiffel Tower
Paris, the city of love and home to the legendary landmark that is The Eiffel Tower. This year, the iconic landmark has decided to go solar! It is predicted that the solar panels installed will provide roughly 50% of the hot water used on the monument, mostly in the restaurants and restrooms. The Eiffel Tower is now also fitted with wind turbines and rainwater collectors. The rainwater collectors will collect enough water for the flushing of the toilets, instead of new clean water. With LED lights also being a feature to this incredible monument, The Eiffel Tower really can’t become any more energy efficient!
Florida – Mickey Mouse shaped Solar Farm
The power company, Duke Energy, plan to build a solar panel farm across 20 acres in Orlando, beside Walt Disney World’s Epcot theme park in the shape of a giant Mickey Mouse head- yes you read it right! The solar farm will be created in the form of three large circles that symbolise the famous and globally recognizable Mickey Mouse shape and will help power Disney’s ever popular theme park. The power plant will hold a total of 48,000 solar panels. The facility is equivalent to approximately a whopping 1,000 standard residential solar rooftop systems to power the rides and attractions at the famous park. Just when we thought Disney World couldn’t be any more magical.
The United Kingdom – Sol Cinema- World’s smallest solar movie theatre
The Sol Cinema is a unique mobile movie theatre in a caravan powered entirely by our friend, the sun! The cinema can accommodate eight adults at a time and features a selection of short films. The Sol Cinema travels all over the United Kingdom and Ireland to events, parties and festivals. The Sol Cinema uses a solar generator to store renewable energy, so that movies can be shown even when the sun isn’t shining at night time. The caravan holds 120w photovoltaic panels to power their LED Video Projector. This unique little caravan really does create a whole new cute and cosy cinema experience and best of all, it’s environmentally friendly!
