Action time on French rooftops. We recently told you about the interesting project by an installed greenhouse on top of a building (great results after the first 60 days). Today the reports of a new electricity generation plant arrive: a sort of magic box called WindBox.
WindBox: double action and less waste
The initiative is part of a strategic plan to reduce CO2 emissions in the city of Rouen, France. The first WindBox modules were installed on a 10-storey building housing 84 apartments. It is the first building in the entire country to benefit from this mixed equipment.
On May 24, eight WindBoxes, each weighing 350 kg, were positioned on the edge of the western façade of the building.
How it's done?
In a nutshell: each Windbox is composed of a horizontal turbine placed in a large "box" on which the solar panels are placed. In the form factor it has something of Aeromine, a project of which I talked about in this post, but it is more practical.
The system produces the equivalent energy of 9,4 m² of photovoltaic panels. The even more interesting aspect is that each of the modules generates only 24 g of CO2 over its lifetime: to be clear, the average of solar panels is around 43,9 g.
What can the “magic box” do?
Over a period of 20 years, the eight WindBoxes installed in Rouen are expected to provide around 14 megawatts of electricity per year. Since this energy is not stored, it will be fed directly into the building's electrical grid. “This mixed energy system will allow us to have double energy production: a part will be used to power the common areas, including the two elevators. The excess will be fed into the grid,” says Paul Bernstein, operations manager for this project.
The cost of the systems is quite affordable: around 4.000 euros / module. It would be very nice if many buildings could cut costs and emissions with similar systems, do you think?
If you need more information, You can be found here.
