Brinks Lock Forgot Combination

"Wind-it." New ideas in energy generation.

This year the magazine Design and Architecture Metropolis has spent the last edition of his award "Next Generation" the challenge for the new generation of clean energy production. The young French architects Nicola Delon, Julien Ménard Raphaël Choppin and have won the first prize with his interesting project, "Wind-it", which involves inserting vertical axis wind turbines on electricity pylons. The most characteristic of wind power are often places its distance from power consumption and the environmental and landscape impact they have on their surroundings. This idea is get a system to be linked more efficient energy source with the transmission line, and in turn impact minoraría landscape by combining both systems into a single element.

Inspired by the French rural landscape seen from the TGV high speed train which numerous erect pylons and some electric turbines thought why not combine them?. Thus headed to consolidate its initial idea, considering various possibilities for this energy mix. On the one hand wind turbines could be inserted into existing electrical towers mainly those that are obsolete or require replacement. It also build new models that combine both energies, with three different sizes of vertical axis turbines by location.

different proposals of pylons + wind turbines, depending on size.

These initiatives are not the first to come to light since the 2006 edition of the same award one participant, Mark Oberholzer, raised vertical axis wind turbines integrated into the barriers dividing traffic in the state of New Jersey highway. Or the proposal to replace the information panels of the motorways vertical axis wind turbines, made by a student of architecture at Arizona. Companies such as Urban Green Energy have implemented ideas how are you, by installing wind turbines on mobile phone antennas on the roofs of buildings. In this way you could introduce this type of energy in urban environments preventing the transmission of it over long distances where you lose efficiency.

medium wind turbine proposal (Mark Oberholzer)

Wind Project-it despite being clever and original initiative with great potential, would require major economic and technical efforts for its implementation . For example, the common electrical towers should be strengthened to accommodate this type of elements, besides the added cost of vertical axis turbines less expensive than conventional. Another aspect is the management of such facilities as it would have to coordinate with the utilities with wind turbines. Nevertheless it is a project under development that allows ample room for improvement.

Windmills in Teno, Tenerife. Photo: Luis Roca Arencibia, Flickr

Decorate School Clinic

PARK [ing]

Surfing the net I found this curious initiative. PARK [ing] Day is the name of an event during which individuals or groups of people transform parking spaces, parking spaces and other parking spaces for motor vehicles in public areas or micro gardens to the congregation and enjoy after habérselo taken (legally and peacefully) for motor vehicles.

Park (ing) day in New York. Photo: Flickr

The procedure is simple, you pay the meter of the chosen square. Subsequently occupies the space the way you want to finally use it as a place of social life.

This initiative began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art collective became a common parking space, an area of \u200b\u200bthe city with a deficit of open space in a small temporary public park. Later it became a creative exploration project as it is distributed and used in public spaces. For example, 70% of the public space belongs to the "downtown" San Francisco is for the vehicle, while only a fraction of this space is allocated to the enjoyment of pedestrians. Paying the meter of a parking space we have the opportunity to enjoy for a short period of urban public space. The question is what are the possible activities to do in this small space of time?

This project has become a global phenomenon, independently created by artists, activists and citizens whose purpose is to reprogram the traffic space into a swap space, recreation and artistic expression, returning to the city which has always been theirs.

Photos: Flickr