390 kW CIS Solar Tower, a little closer to GreenPeace

Solar energy is clearly a free form of energy, free in the sense that you don’t have to pay for it, but you need the right tools to grab it. "The tools" we speak of are solar panels, which, as any technology, are getting cheaper and cheaper every day, becoming more affordable, turning into a viable alternative to get electricity. One building in Manchester UK, the CIS Solar Tower, uses this power to produce a large part of the energy it requires to function.

Even if initially they didn’t planned to install 7244 solar panels on its facade, they did that after the mosaic tiles installed for aesthetic reasons begun to fall, and so now the building produces around 390 kW, enough to power up 1000 PC’s for one year. Unfortunately only 4898 panel are working (the rest are dummy panels, for an unknown reason), but 24 wind turbines installed on top of the tower compensate by making 10% of the overall consumed electricity in CIS.

The cost of the project is estimated at around 11.4 millions $, from which a small part were supported by Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry. CIS Solar Tower is a first in our more and more polluted world and even if it wasn’t planned like this at first it may now give something to think about to other industrial giants, which have to power and money to produce and use efficient energy.

Source: Engadget (via Metaefficient)