Freedom Tower and Alternative Power

September 14, 2006

With this week marking the 5th year since 9/11/01, many a discussion have ensued -- political commentary, what could have been, what should have been done, what are we doing now, and of course, the restructuring of downtown Manhattan with the new Freedom Tower.

News sources have been reporting on the engineering and design of the skyscraper that will eventually grace the Manhattan skyline, but I've had a few of my own discussions this week about said building and, of course, the topic of alternative energy came up.

Wired News reported this week that the Freedom Tower is a "solemn monument to the fallen," and continued to account the safety of the structure, stating that the "tower has a 200-foot-tall, bomb-resistant concrete base surrounded by a multi-layered glass-curtain wall designed to be impervious to any kind of explosion."

What does any of this have to do with alternative power? Well, nothing really. But in talking with some of my more scientific and alternative-power minded friends, it was brought up that maybe the Freedom Tower should be a real source of freedom.....freedom from fuel, electric, gas......

What if the tower were powered by large solar panels? What if the building could generate enough energy from the sun so that all heating, air, electricty, etc came from a natural, alternative source? Why not "free" ourselves from foreign fuel (as it was discussed, the oil and fuels supplied by countries from which the purported terrorists came...)?

An interesting discussion to say the least. While I'm no expert on the science and logistics behind making such a project work, I'd be curious to see what people would say on this could-be sensitive subject.