<p>About six hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador lie the Galapagos Islands, famous for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle#Gal.C3.A1pagos_Islands">their role</a> in contributing to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Now, however, the small archipelago province has a new claim to fame: Home to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3163620/Galapagos-Islands-airport-world-s-run-ENTIRELY-solar-wind-power.html">world’s first</a>, one hundred percent green-energy airport.</p><p>Located on the island of Baltra, the new terminal is six thousand square meters of environmentally sound architecture, powered exclusively by solar and wind energy, <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-07-galapagos-airport-evolves-renewable-energy.html">save only for air conditioning units</a> used to cool the other machinery. In addition to the solar and wind power, the airport <a href="http://yourescapetoecuador.com/news/worlds-first-green-airport-fully-operational-at-baltra-galapagos-islands/">reportedly</a> features its own desalination plant which provides clean water to the facilities sinks, while recycled water is used in the toilets. Built in part with recycled pillars once used as oil pipes, as well as materials gleaned from the island’s previous airport, the new eco-terminal first opened its doors in 2012, and is now being <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-07-galapagos-airport-evolves-renewable-energy.html">heralded</a> as the first airport on Earth to go completely green. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.euronews.com/embed/310068/" type="text/html" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Galapagos’ eco-airport comes at a time when more and more people have begun <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-17/help-airlines-help-the-environment">scrutinizing the airline industry as a whole</a> for its environmental policies. And while a single, relatively lightly-trafficked island terminal is likely not going to make a tremendous dent in how air travel impacts the planet, it does offer a model for other countries and facilities to use in their own thinking around issues of conservation and ecology. </p><p>As Jorge Rocillo, the airport's manager, <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2015/07/16/galapagos-sun-and-wind-power-world-s-1st-green-airport/">explained</a> to <em>Euronews</em>: “The main thing is that it is a sustainable building, a public building that can balance technology and comfort for passengers without polluting the environment. This is basically the legacy we want to give.”</p><p style="text-align: right;">[<em>via <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-07-galapagos-airport-evolves-renewable-energy.html">psys.org</a></em>]</p>
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