WIND FARM ALOFT
The new building - “Feedom Tower� - which is to rise high above Ground Zero at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City has one innovative feature which ought to be emulated in other such high-rise construction.
Above the sixty floors planned for occupancy there are levels which are be set aside as a “way up there� wind farm!
It's about time some one has come with a sensible reason why we want to go so high. And it is past time for such buildings to be designed to help to some extent with the cost of operation and maintenance. I have no idea what amount of electrical energy such wind farm as can produce. If it is capable of supplying even a small art of the energy needs it will prove to be worthwhile. Imagine, if you can, a city in which a number of such tall buildings exist with such capabilities and the advantages are obvious. Distribution of electrical power, as presently set up, could be modified and made much more efficient, less costly and far betterr prepared to supply additional power, if and when, emergency circumstances may demand.
This is not the first time a power producing rotor has been mounted on a tall structure., but this is the first formal break the system has had from an architectural standpoint. It is time to follow up on this encouraging forward step with studies to see how effectively existing buildings can be modified to accomodate such wind farm additions. Do you remember the lone flagpole which used to be on top of tall buildings before the need for radio and television towers?
There are a dozen other communications installations up there, as well, now. They have been of immense assistance in making such buildings profitable for owners. The majority of skyscrapers are only partly finished on the inside. If you doubt that, look at almost any night time photographs of big city skylines and notice how huge sections of windows are generously lit - by banks of floodlights within cavernous, unfinished areas - while windows in occupied areas are often dark. Managing a skyscraper successfully is not one of the most attractive jobs in the world. Any new feature feature which will make it more profitable would be welcome.
New York City will be the leader, it now appears, but Chicago, with its well-known nickname as “the windy city�, may well move into first place soon.
. A,L.M. December 20, 2003 [c422w ds]
