In the Danish capital of Copenhagen ground has been broken on a massive trash incinerator which will double as a ski slope. The 100-metre-tall incinerator in the heart of Copenhagen is set to open in 2016 at an estimated to cost $650 million.
The waste-to-energy plant / ski slope was designed by architect, Bjarke Ingels who had this to say about his design, “When you spend 3.5bn kroner [£424m] creating an energy plant in the middle of Copenhagen you make sure it doesn’t become an ugly box that the neighbours will protest against and clutters the cityscape.”
“You have to make sure it becomes a public park, an attraction. And when the kids come to go skiing on top of the plant they will probably be curious to find out what’s going on inside the mountain.”
And then there’s this: Each time that a metric ton of CO2 is released, said smokestack puffs out a 100-foot-wide smoke ring high into the sky above the Danish capital city. In the words of BIG, the smoke rings “serve a communicative function as a gentle reminder of the impact of consumption.” In the evening, the smoke rings will be illuminated by heat-tracking laser beams. guardian.co.uk