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There are a lot of disparate things that, as good as they are by themselves, once slammed together, make an even more awesome pair: Peanut butter and Jelly, Law and Order, Han and Chewie, to name just a few. But of all the “great on their own–even greater together” ideas out there, few seem quite as ambitious as the combination of a cutting edge waste-to-energy plant with a massive, functioning ski slope.
Dubbed “Copenhill,” the Amager Resource Center is currently under construction in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen. Once completed, the state of the art power plant will reportedly consume around 400,000 tons of waste, transforming it into enough energy to heat approximately 160,000 nearby households, and provide electricity for 62,500. Bjarke Ingels Group, the Danish architectural design firm behind Copenhill’s construction plan to wrap the structure’s facade in planting boxes, so that, once completed, the entire building can be coated in foliage, transforming it into what they describe as “a green mountain from afar with a white mountain top.”
Ole Hedegaard Madsen, Director of Technology and Marketing at Babcock & Wilcox Vølund, the company whose equipment will run the state of the art power plant, explains:
“It is a multi-purpose plant that is already catching the eyes of the world because of its local appeal. The plant provides energy and waste treatment, and will be an architectural landmark and a leisure facility. The novelty of the project is the combination of ingenious technology and innovative architecture in a project dedicated local community”
In addition to the 500 total meters of meter aerial ski slopes, the building will also feature a rooftop hiking trail, bike path, and climbing wall, according to the Bjarke Ingels Group website.
In an effort to visually depict the impact of carbon emissions, the ARC’s chimney will be programmed to belch a smoke ring each time the power plant releases one ton of fossil CO2. The plant will then project a laser onto that ring, turning it into a floating pie chart to show “the actual quota” of the carbon dioxide emission.
Amazing as this all may seem, the plant is not simply a conceptual flight of fancy from forward-thinking futurists. Construction on the ARC facility is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
[via psfk]
