CopenHill is a project designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group also known as BIG Architects. Last year we visited Copenhagen to see this project which is known as the world cleanest waste to energy powerplant. This is also the first powerplant to have a ski slope installed on the roof!
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This is the world's cleanest waste to energy power plant,
and it is also the world's first power plant to have a ski slope installed on the roof.
It is known as Copenhagen and today we have come to Copenhagen to take a closer look at this project
and show you how the Danish are transforming their waste into clean energy.
Welcome back to Going Green, in this episode we are in the Danish capital,
visiting a project known as Copenhagen.
Every single day, this power plant receives 300 truckloads of unrecyclable waste.
This amounts to 400,000 tonnes of rubbish per year.
As we all know, we need to recycle as much as we can,
however there will always be products which can't be recycled, such as food waste.
Finding a new use for these products has been a major challenge for mankind over the last 50 years,
as we have ended up dumping this rubbish onto land to create landfills,
which are huge areas covered in waste that cannot biodegrade due to the lack of oxygen in these sites.
Burning rubbish to create energy is not a new concept,
however it has never been done in such a sustainable way.
This project was designed by the Bjarke Ingalls Group, also known as Big Architects.
Their aim was to turn one of the most undesirable places of the city,
into one of the most desirable.
They aimed to create a waste to energy power plant that would only emit non-toxic steam.
This would then mean that it could be safe enough to be used by the public for additional purposes.
In this case, the building also doubles up as an artificial ski slope,
which can be used all year round by the public.
Here is a short clip of a professional free skier going down the building.
The steam that is coming off the power plant is claimed to be as fresh as mountain air.
This project is an example of what is known as hedonistic sustainability.
This means that you don't have to sacrifice comfort or enjoyment
to do the things which are good for the planet.
We got the chance to have a look inside of the building,
to see exactly how they were converting so much waste into clean energy.
Allowing this public access to a facility which is usually positioned so far out of public sight,
is a great achievement on the sustainability front,
as it showcases to the public exactly where their waste is going.
This creates a level of accountability for all of the citizens in Copenhagen.
The plant is so efficient that they even import trash from other countries.
To simplify the process that goes on inside,
the rubbish is brought onto site, then burned as fuel to heat up water.
This steam then runs a turbine which produces heat and power,
that services 680,000 people every single day.
The toxins produced from burning this waste is cleaned,
and all that is released into the atmosphere is steam.
Some of the key messages that can be taken away from this project,
are that sustainability and enjoyment don't have to be two separate things,
they can and should co-exist.
Also, we don't need to hide facilities from the public eye,
and instead we should highlight them and provide further education to the public,
so that they can become more aware of how their individual actions,
have an environmental impact.
Thank you for watching this video, if you enjoyed it please leave a like,
and if you want to see more sustainable projects,
then make sure you subscribe to the Going Green channel.
I'll see you in the next video.
