(Photo: GPLCEC)
A vision of clean energy in London, or 160-foot robot bong from the future?
Well, it’s a bit of both actually. Although probably more the clean energy thing. It’s actually the design for a new chimney for a power station in Lewisham, designed by UK artist Conrad Shawcross. In April this year, construction is set to be completed on his amazing, retro-futurist, dazzle camo-inspired design for a 160-foot flue stack in Greenwich.
Using the moiré effect, The Optic Cloak, as it’s known, is made of geometric aluminium cladding and triangular panels that wrap around the tower.
The artist says the design is to highlight the distinct lack of carbon emissions from the new, super-efficient Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre – set to open later this year. Smokin’.
Scotland – the new, unstoppable kingpin of clean energy in Europe
And talking of reeking lums, Scotland, it turns out, is owning the clean-energy game in the UK.
According to figures just released by WWF, 2015 was a “huge year” for renewable power. Wind energy produced the equivalent of 97 per cent of Scotland’s total electricity needs – and this puts Scotland in pole position to become the EU’s first fully renewable-energy nation by 2030.
Still, things are looking pretty good down south, too. London Array, which runs huge, offshore wind farms in the Thames Estuary, also smashed a record for clean energy production in December.
New York street art to the rescue for America’s endangered birds
High fives, please, for the National Audubon Society in the US – they’ve come up with a fine way to highlight the plight of all 314 bird species on the threatened list in North America.
The Audubon Mural Project encourages street artists and muralists to create public artworks around New York City that depict each endangered type of avian.
So far, around 24 murals have been finished with more being added as space comes up.
This super-sized one on 3750 Broadway by Rome-based artist Hitnes? Caw.
Fish Crow by Hitnes on Broadway (Photo: Hitnes/National Audubon Society)
For the architecturally inclined
A great bit of lateral thinking from Austria, where an innovative, future-conscious architecture firm has come up with a so-called ‘mountain house’ – a three-level home that slants with the gradient of the slope, to make life easier for the horizontally challenged.
And it looks quite lovely – as well as completely liveable. Hills and people – fully compatible since 2016.
Full tilt: the house on a hill in Austria (Photo: LP architektur)
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