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73 Comments
- legendxx, on 10/11/2007, -6/+62image if we used the right words
- zombiedictator, on 10/11/2007, -2/+51The only people (in America, at least) complaining about wind turbines "ruining the landscape" are millionaire yuppie Wall Street power brokers bitching about the view from their 4 million dollar summer home in the Hamptons. To be quite blunt, ***** 'em. Why should hundreds of thousands/millions of people suffer for the privilege of a few hundred?
- Jakyll, on 10/11/2007, -3/+44Hmmm, I wonder what happens in a few years when a new 500-meter building is built directly in front of it?
- Mudger, on 10/11/2007, -7/+43Dubai is crazy.
- asauterChicago, on 10/11/2007, -0/+34"Why does all the cool stuff go to Dubai, what the hell is so great about a desert city?"
Oil Money. Lots, and lots of oil money. - thefirelane, on 10/11/2007, -4/+32Buried, I've seen this complaint before.
- bald1, on 10/11/2007, -3/+22This is a step in the right direction. I hate it when people complain about wind turbines "ruining the landscape" (a common happening here in the UK) - I would fear that without the use of renewable energy sources the landscape may not remain beautiful for very long!
- Duncast, on 10/11/2007, -3/+20Science fiction has really caught up hasn't it? Great stuff.
- snypa, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16Had to be in Dubai.
- arjie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16Atleast you don't have demonstrations demanding they be taken down because they "drive the clouds away". You think that's a bad joke? No, it happened here in India.
http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=7785
I'd find a better source but I posted before getting the source and the edit timer is running out. - EBFoxbat, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14micro=small : atria=plural of atrium : atrium=An inner courtyard of a home or other building that is open to the sky or covered by a skylight
Thus sections of a floor(plate) connected by small open-light courtyards. This would be aesthetic pleasing... "pretty" if you will. - PimpinOnWelfare, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12The only reason Dubai is even whoring out all this oil money is because they are running out of oil and they need tourism to fall back on when they're broke ...
- Zera, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10I'm surprised to see this article on Treehugger. The energy reduction 'accomplishments' pale in comparison to it's actual size. While it's tall, its only 140,000 square feet. That's NOTHING. That's just over half the size of a Wal-Mart Super Center: http://www.newrules.org/retail/howbigisbig.html
This building is NOT a good example of something that conserves energy. The cost of building, both financial and the construction materials are WAY more per square foot than a traditional sky skraper. Building materials should be taken into account before something is considered 'earth friendly'. Don't get me wrong, the building is neat, but before TreeHugger blogs about it, they should acknowledge that it is not a design worthy of praise from any earth friendly group.
A far better solution would be to build any of the buildings you see in the background (with far more office space) and then building 50 wind turbines off site with all the money they saved. This building is as earth friendly as putting a solar panel on a hummer, and shame on treehugger for not recognizing that. - jspegele, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8"Why does all the cool stuff go to Dubai, what the hell is so great about a desert city?"
What makes it great is all the cool stuff that's going to it. There's not much inherently good about the city or the location, so they're using their oil money build a seemingly endless line of attractions to keep their economy going when the oil runs out.
Good plan, but I'm starting to think that there is not Arabic word for 'excess'. - AltruiSisu, on 01/13/2009, -0/+8the difference is, at least in the case of Dubai, we all know it will come to fruition. ...that place has some pretty amazing architecture already (the hotel that looks like a giant sail on a man-made island ... the palm-shaped 'island' neighborhood, etc.).
put it on the map if Dubai has something in the works. - catalysis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8It's a good thing we didn't "sell them our ports" or they may have attacked us with their futuristic towers.
- fwedwic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9that thing looks ***** sweet!
- t1m0j5, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Consider that the UAE, actually has almost no oil, and that is why they have invested in being a financial center, so actually not ironic.
- Pile, on 10/11/2007, -7/+13There's a forward-thinking society. They're sitting on top of the largest oil reserves in the world and they're already prototyping advanced alternate power sources. Meanwhile we still argue over CAFE minimum mpg standards. Can America look any more back-woods?
- NYC10004, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6It's sad to know that my country will never have a building as beautiful as this again. After they sent the innovative plans for the Freedom Tower to the chopping block and took away its wind turbines and hanging gardens, what we're going to get now in NYC is a giant fortress looking thing that isn't even going to be the biggest building in the world.
The Greatness is gone. - noreturn, on 10/11/2007, -4/+9Thanks, digg, for teleporting me to the wrong reply.
- mitydog, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Looks like Dubai is quickly becoming a world capital.
- Jumba990, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5I'm not sure, but this one is different. The other story had a tower that kind of went up with a twist
see: http://www.metaefficient.com/building_produces_own_energy_Burj_al-Taqa.jpg - NinjaJedi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I was under the impression that wind turbines turn to face the wind.
If the wind was blowing across the blades no power would be generated!! - webcure, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Wow, that building is beautiful and progressive. Someone is using their head.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4dubai rules
- llbbl, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7"Why should hundreds of thousands/millions of people suffer for the privilege of a few hundred?"
Welcome to America where that happens daily. - brufleth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The summary and article are sensationalizing quite a bit. Those wind turbines are actually relatively low output. Turbines with an output of 1 megawatt (almost four and a half times what these can output) are commonplace.
For examples please see:
http://www.gepower.com/prod_serv/products/wind_turbines/en/index.htm - slapthemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Beautiful pic
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4turbines look cool, a lot nicer than the power pylons which are all over the place.
- Cyberdactyl, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Come on dudes, let's start giving us a break on rendered ideas and posting as something actually built. . or will be built "soon". I realize the poster's lead line used "will have", but for God's sake I can whip up a space elevator design and post it as undergoing the "last pre-construction design before contract documents are isssued" blah blah.
- WarMace, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Designed by the Atkins group, the 400-meter office tower aspires to reduce its total energy consumption by up to 65% and water consumption by up to 40%.
...Sounds more like the Atkins Diet. - colorjam, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@Zera
Make sure you read everything closely :) It says 140,000 sq METERS of space.. actually 84,000 sq METERS of commercial space the rest is parking, etc. That means in total its 448,000 sq feet.
Gotta watch out for those metric numbers :) - aldenhg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3No, it wouldn't. Depending on your geographical location (like northern or souther hemisphere) the north or south side of a building gets sun for something like 80% of the day, whereas the east and west sides only get sun in the morning or evening. Seeing as Dubai is in the northern hemisphere, the south side makes perfect sense.
- VitriolAndAngst, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3That's why you have upright pylons -- the "eggbeater" design gets power from wind no matter what direction -- as long as it moves horizontally to the ground.
But I am definitely convinced that the future of windpower is in floating turbines. With a kite, or drone plane, you can put your turbine in a trade wind and have wind power 365 days a year. - LexisNexis, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7What the hell is 'micro-atria' and why do I want it in my floorplates?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I believe that the "huge" part refers to the physical size of the turbines, not their energy output. Having said that, I'm not sure how huge that really is compared to other wind turbines.
- Rioracer916, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I was upset as well when I heard that the design was changed.
It went from:
"LOOK, we're Americans and the terrorists haven't killed our aspirations of world leadership through influence"
to
"Well let's play it safe and go with a rectangle. The terrorists have planes remember? Wait lets draw up plans for a massive bunker instead...we are not afraid *voice cracks*" - cardiophagia, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4That's hot.
- rnwen2750, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Energy conservation/global warming/whatever feuds aside - that is one beautiful structure! It looks so awesome (especially in comparison to the buildings around it). Bravo!
- mistahroth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2That thing looks like its from the future hahah, very nice design
- RTourn, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm pissed that, an oil country can be more progressive than the US. Remember when Philadelphia proposed a "Green Skyscraper" Design, the Plumbers union oppose it.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/plumbers_expose.php - Zera, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@colorjam
Good catch. You're right about the units there, but you too made a metric conversion mistake as there are 10.7 sq. ft. one square meter. So it's 900,000 square feet of usable space is equivalent to almost 4 Wal-Mart Super centers. Compare that to the Sears Tower (yes, a slightly taller building) at 3.8 Million square feet rentable is more than 4 times the size, and far cheaper to build due to it's more efficient use of space. - andyd273, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Heh, in Cali its the environmentalists that are demanding that the wind turbines be taken down, since they also kill birds... I guess it cuts both ways
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3The funny thing is the oil companies which make Dubai so wealthy are the same ones who would bribe local planners in north America to disallow such a building.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3what no anti-gravity?
- ahhell, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Kind of ironic coming from Land 'o Oil.
- dkla, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Sure it's a green building, but what about the virtual slave labour that will be used to build it (and the rest of Dubai)?
- flyinghigh91, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1finally people are starting to wake up a realizing that we need to start saving energy!
- tkaeregaard, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1These so-called "enormous" wind turbines are rather tiny. Vestas makes turbines that produce 10 times more power - 3 MW! Rotor diameter: 90 m (295 ft or 3543 inches for you non-metrics).
http://www.vestas.com/vestas/global/en/Products/Wind_turbines/V90_3_0.htm -
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