Construction of Solar Bridge Begins

In central London, a bridge that spans across River Thames is getting an environmental upgrade. The structure, called Blackfriars Bridge, is going to be equipped with over 4,400 solar panels. It's expected that this new enhancement will be able to produce over 900,000 kilowatt hours of green electricity every year. This is also estimated to provide the half of the rail station's annual required electricity. This will also ultimately prevent over 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released in the air. It's a great use of the unused six thousand square meters of the tunnel's roof space.

The work being done on this structure will hopefully be able to show how older and environmentally harming apparatuses can be created into green devices. The bridge, which was created in 1886, also is estimated to create over 1000 tonnes of CO2 every year. Being able to prevent a majority of this by simply using unused space is a great environmental choice. While the panels will cost a large sum of eleven million dollars, it's estimated that the city will be able save over a quarter of a million dollars in electricity costs annually. This project shows that many countries and their officials are beginning to logically think greenly.

-Nate

Sources

• http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-04-21/opinion/17145996_1_solar-panels-solar-power-pacific-gas-and-electric
• http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/londons-solar-bridge-to-produce-900000-kwh-of-electricity-2011107/
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/04/solar-bridge-blackfriars-station
• http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/world/europe/solar-bridge-london-blackfriars/index.html?hpt=ieu_mid