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Freedom Tower Goes Green, Gets Fuel Cells

ecogeek.org — With how much thought and resources that are being poured into a project of this stature, there is no reason that a tower of this magnitude shouldn't integrate some innovative and environmentally friendly design characteristics.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 18, 2008

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  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -2/+36Going on 7 ***** years and its still a gaping hole in the ground.

    Get your ***** together, shut your mouth's, and build the ***** building.
  • Falldog, on 06/18/2008, -2/+27New York, as well as all major cities, need more buildings like 4 Times Square. Here's hoping that the Freedom Tower, despite it's god awfully stupid name, helps continue the green trend successfully.
  • bxblox, on 06/18/2008, -1/+25I think the name is just a "***** you terrorist" thing. When they were asking new yorkers what should be built, they'd suggest 4 towers or the same towers twice as high. Typical new york "***** you" attitude.
  • HouseofEl, on 06/18/2008, -2/+17This building is already a ***** disgrace and it's not even built. There has been a hole in the ground for years now. I honestly could care less how green it is at this point. They've already made it a ***** joke on so many levels. The design is *****. If their not careful it will be looked upon as an embarrassment.
  • Michiko280, on 06/17/2008, -5/+19Love it! If youve got the funding to build a skyscraper, you've got the money to make it green. Hope more follow suit!
  • EmileVictor, on 06/18/2008, -1/+13People are deliusional. There is no way that a tower like this can go "green" or carbon neutral with the options given. The numbers just don't stack up.

    I'm sick of people putting up a façade of being "green" just for promotions sake, when in essence they are achieving very little.
  • lozzobear, on 06/18/2008, -0/+9Fuel cells are rubbish - a simple battery system would be far more efficient. Generating and storing hydrogen loses about 60-70% of the electricity that goes into the process.
  • stillasleep00, on 06/18/2008, -0/+8Dugg despite the apostrophe abuse.
  • Patrickdnj, on 06/18/2008, -0/+7Exclamations! Yeah!!!
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -5/+12This entire fiasco is a disgrace. First of all, it's seven years later, and we haven't been able to rebuild two goddamned buildings. It's more important to wallow in the "tragedy" and bicker about it.

    Second, look at the name of this project: "Freedom Tower". Which will memorialize the INSULTING, DISGRACEFUL SHAM ADVANCED BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION: "THEY HATE OUR FREEDOM."

    They don't give a ***** about our "freedom." They hate our policies, *****.

    REBUILD THE WTC EXACTLY THE WAY IT WAS, BUT 50 PERCENT TALLER. HEAL THE SCAR ON NEW YORK AND OUR NATION, INSTEAD OF RENDERING IT PERMANENT AND WALLOWING IN IT.
  • Azerael, on 06/18/2008, -3/+9What has America done lately that wasn't an embarrassment?
  • Matsky, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5It's seriously called the "Freedom Tower"? Oh man that sucks... I thought it was going to be turned into a memorial park. That makes a lot more sense to me. Instead of something with such a tacky name that will probably be criticised and targeted by the same people who blew up your WTC, why not build a park to the memory of all those who died?
  • pukedukem, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5I'm still going to say French Tower.
  • antelrope, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5Ditto lozzobear; fuel cells are not green.
    The eco-geek article mentions this building: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1486/56/

    It sports wind turbines and solar panels making it a power plant instead of just a drain.
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5This tower is underwhelming, Dubai just spanks it right off the charts. Should have made it 1km high, and called it something imposing.

  • Sairynn, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5Nope, that never actually caught on.
  • chickcomedy, on 06/17/2008, -4/+8Hmm go green!
  • Falldog, on 06/18/2008, -0/+4Then they should've just called it the ***** You Tower.
  • krnldmp, on 06/18/2008, -2/+6Cool. Now, from where are they getting the fuel?
  • Spudster, on 06/18/2008, -1/+5After watching a Penn and Teller episode on the subject, I'm going to have to go ahead and agree with you on that. They ***** it up on so many different levels.
  • zadadka, on 06/18/2008, -3/+7Do they still call french fries "Freedom Fries" over there?
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -1/+4Did they name it the freedom tower so if someone runs another plane into it, they can say they hate our freedoms? I guess that would only work if they built twin freedom towers like the world trade center in that our freedoms is plural. It could still work though, because by the time bush leaves office, we might only have one freedoms left.
  • Barackalypse, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3How can you say the fuel cells are green when the article doesn't tell you where their hydrogen is coming from? For all you know they're electrolyzing water using electricity from coal fired turbines, in which case you're actually being less green than simply using the electricity directly.
  • Lavarock, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3NNRGRGRRGRGGHHHH BUILD THE SAME BUILDINGS PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -1/+4Apparently really tough.
  • 471776, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2They should have gone with the most popular option with NYC residents - rebuild the towers so they look the same (although they'd be different in terms of structure, layout etc.), and add an extra floor on top.
  • helleborus, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2It is indeed called the "Freedom Tower". If they're gonna do that, they might as well go all out and called it the "Homeland Family Values Support the Troops and Spread Democracy Freedom Tower". (Helleborus hangs her head in embarrassment that her hood will host this travesty.)
    I don't know what was wrong with World Trade Center - I think it's a pretty catchy name. And it's available ...
    As to why no memorial: this is some of the priciest real estate on the face of the earth - no way they're going to 'waste' it on a park.
  • mymica, on 06/17/2008, -2/+4Totally agree! Good move on their part!
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2Neither is burning 2 tonnes of coal to make 10 cubic meters of hydrogen, then building 60 tankers and powering them to deliver it.
  • lolinyerface, on 06/18/2008, -1/+3My ONLY question, will they serve Freedom Fries in the lobby?
  • lineweight, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2Did anyone else notice that the two beams of light shot into sky to represent the towers looked a lot like what Hitler's architect Albert Speer did at the Zepplinfeld? I'm not making any comparisons or anything, but someone should have said something first....
  • iXneonXi, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2I hope you sell SAMs.
  • Twee, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2because the land is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
  • g00dETH3R, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2Freedom tower, marking the place where America lost it's freedom and started on the road to fascism.
  • KaivenTor, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1@Ravatar: Exactly. I was just chucking out ideas, but you're right, that land is actually worth thousands per square foot given that it's in the financial district. We could just rebuilt the trade center or build a new design and make it functional. Nothing says "Screw you" to terrorists than rebuilding what they sacrificed themselves to destroy.
  • Ravatar, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1Why only 50%?? ***** it, we're going 300 blades.



    I mean percent.
  • Ravatar, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1I woulda voted for it.
  • whoreable, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Tower_(Miami)
  • Ravatar, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I loved the WTC because its design conveyed prestige and elegance. This new building is a gaudy quasi-political statement. Oh well, the view will be spectacular from bk either way :)
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -1/+2Freedumb tower would be more appropriate.
  • Ravatar, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1@Barackalypse

    Con-Edison in NYC allows homes and businesses to purchase "green energy" from their grid that came from Wind turbines or nearby Hydroelectric plants. It costs a cent or two more per kW, which gets reinvested into renewable energy sources. You also get to waive the utility tax for buying renewable energy. I have it at my place and it costs about $2.85 more a month typically. Unfortunately, there's only about 30 MW power generation capability right now at their wind farm.

    So that's one option as far as where the electricity is coming from.
  • Twee, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1I agree. Roughly half of my comments disappear when I refresh the page after waiting 5 minutes. Let's hope that this one doesn't face that familiar fate!
  • mistawac, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1I just don't get it. For like, a year I've been reading about all these new, great ideas for 'Green' power and they all seem excellent. When I was younger I never understood why solar panels weren't built on skyscraper rooftops or on their sides or why they didn't utilize the higher altitudes for wind turbines. Now they have these great ideas for microturbines built into buildings and they don't matter at all because no one wants to build them.

    I'm so sick of hearing people talking out their asses and I wish someone would huild one of the mother ***** buildings already...
  • mistawac, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1Very good point. I'm still not understanding why a big portion of our budget isn't going towards building better, more efficient wind farms or solar farms at this point. The faster they are built the faster we move away from fossil fuels..
  • Ravatar, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1I'd love to see a huge botanical garden or some sorta park down there. Problem is, that land down there is worth hundreds of dollars per square foot. They're wasting billions of dollars in valuable space by not putting up another building.

    For example, the land Central Park is sitting on is said to be valued at half a trillion dollars currently.
  • helleborus, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1No CAPTCHAs today? I'm gonna fire up my bot and start spamming!
  • FeloniusMonkey, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1My first impression after reading the title: "Oh boy, what'd the French do THIS time? (to cause Congress to rename the Statue of Liberty)"
  • Ravatar, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1What the ***** are you talking about? The market isn't being held back at all right now, those alternatives aren't coming because they don't HAVE to, thanks to a lack of government regulation.

    Americans put up with 99 cent gas, 2 dollar gas, 3 dollar gas, and 4 dollars gas, and they'll continue to until they go bankrupt. Mark my words.
  • mistawac, on 06/18/2008, -1/+2When they clean up the mess from the breakfast meal - Liberty Toast.
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