The greening of Ground Zero
September 18, 2004
Skyscrapers that power themselves through wind and solar energy collected on their roofs have been named in the winning designs in a competition aimed at creating a greener modern city.
Although the project's title - Green Ground Zero - refers to the space in which the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood, the project is designed around the entirety of New York's Lower Manhattan district.
The aim, its founders argue, is to show that greener ways of living and "sustainable design" can be made part of a densely packed metropolis that exists in the real world.
The competition winners were announced here at the World Urban Forum.
Farouk Stemmet, one of the project's advocates, told the BBC the idea was of "every building making its humble contribution".
He explained one idea was to have tiny generators in every tap - so that every time the tap was turned on, the motion of the water passing over them produced electricity.
"You could, in theory, have a city of 10 million people acting as an electricity generator," he said.
Further information is available on the BBC News site.
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