Green Megastructures are becoming more of a necessity in the 21st century. Climate change, deforestation, and overpopulation are the most significant issues the world is facing. Climate change gave birth to the word Green Structures. The world is investing in such projects which keep the environment clean and green. Following are some of those Mega Structures bought to you by Geography Scout
A solar farm is a large group of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels which absorb solar energy, convert it to electricity, and then deliver it to the power grid for distribution and consumption by users. Solar energy provides the potential for a sustainable energy future. Every day, the sun produces significantly more energy than we require to power the entire planet.
With 2,245 MW of solar projects completed, the Bhadla Solar Park has become the world’s largest solar park. The park is located in Bhadla village in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district and spans over 14,000 acres. Several organizations collaborated to create the solar park. The area is ideal for solar power because of the extremely bright sun and the fact that there is hardly anyone around.
Beyond this large-scale project, the Bhadla Solar Park has also introduced the unique standard for solar cost in India. With the developer offering the lower cost of solar that have ever seen in India. India boasts the cheapest solar in the entire world. Imagine the solar cleaning company who has to clean that!
Largest Floating Solar Farms
Floating sun-powered orientated devices are creating as an elective to routine ground-set-up PV structures. The Floating Solar Farm can help reduce carbon emission by 32 kilotons per year, which is equal to taking off more than 7,000 cars from the road.
South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, is planning to build a 200 MW floating solar park, part of the 2.1 GW floating solar complex, near the Saemangeum tidal flats, on the coast of the Yellow Sea. The country aims to install more than 30.8 of solar generation capacity by 2030, one of the megastructures that have ever been announced. Korean Government has selected five dams as potential sites for this project, namely Gunwi, Hapcheon, Chungju, Soyang River, and Imam. These mega projects help to generate energy without harming the environment.v
World’s Biggest Wind Farm
A wind farm consists of hundreds of wind turbines, which can spread over hundreds of miles. Traditional farming and some other activities can be done on the land between the turbines. Locate wind farms near water bodies such as lakes and oceans. It will help in taking advantage of winds that blow across oceans and lakes.
In the early 1980s, Altamont Pass Wind Farm, one of the first largest wind farms, was built in Altamont Pass, California. The project’s primary purpose was to transform the fantasy of producing clean, utility-scale energy from the wind into reality. At the start of the project, little was known about the interactions between wildlife and wind. It was thought that wind offered great environmental benefits, which came true. But there were some unexpected impacts on wildlife at Altamont raised, which caused conflict between environmentalists and wind developers. It was a difficult situation for the industry because there was no research available on wind-wildlife interaction.
In the early 1980s, some significant improvements and innovations were brought in wind farms. Ultimately, some 6,200 wind turbines were installed in Altamont Pass Wind Farm, producing 538 MW of clean, renewable energy.
World’s Largest Hydroelectric Gravity Dam
Hydropower is the energy produced through the power of moving water. Hydropower runs the turbine that passes on their energy to a generator and produces electric energy using new technologies.
Three Gorges Dam, a dam on the Yangtze River, was the largest engineering project in China began in 1994. The project was completed in 2006; it was the most significant dam structure in the world.
The Three Gorges Dam is 185 meters (607 feet) high and meters (7,660 feet) long. The Dam uses 463,000 metric tons of steel and includes more than 28 million cubic meters (37 million cubic yards). Three Gorges Dam is the most productive hydroelectric Dam in the world, generating 22,500 megawatts of electricity. The Dam also helps in protecting millions of people from the frequent flooding that hits the Yangtze basin.
World’s Most Amazing Green Buildings
As the climate is changing worldwide, the word “Green Buildings” got popular among the countries. The world diverted its attention towards the idea of building green environment-friendly buildings. Here are some of the fantastic Green Buildings that the world have seen:
- Shanghai Tower
Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building in the world and the tallest tower in China. 128-storey Shanghai Tower claims to be the world’s greenest skyscraper. The building is packed in two layers of glass for ventilation and natural cooling. The top of the building consists of 200 wind turbines that produce around 10% of the building’s electricity. The tower gathers rainwater and re-utilizes wastewater, and the building also uses 40 other energy-saving estimates. The Shanghai Tower is home to more than twenty thousand square feet of exterior trees and shrubs, making it the greenest skyscraper.
- Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro
The building is an inspiration from the Brazilian culture and the surrounding vegetation. The building is an innovation in the concept of Green Building. Museum of Tomorrow uses solar panels that move in the direction of the sun to maximize energy absorption. The building also uses rainwater, cleaned, filtered, and returned to the Bay through a small waterfall. The museum also collects the water from washbasins, showers, and sinks, which are treated and recycled, which saves 9.6 million liters of water and 2,400 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity each per year.
- Bosco Verticale, Milan
Bosco Verticale consists of two residential towers covered with over 20,000 plants. The building has set the idea of going green into the skies. The tower equals over 200,000 square feet of forest on flat land, having trees of different sizes, shrubs, and other flowering plants. The 20,000 plants help keep the environment clean, absorb CO2, dust, and reduce smog; it also produces oxygen and improves air quality.
