14 DAY TRIAL // Winter sports are the main attraction for millions of tourists enjoying at least a one-week-long holiday in the best ski resorts. Even if they bring huge profits, these facilities often display an increased carbon footprint.
If green buildings are still in fashion, the same trend can be easily applied to the best, most popular ski destinations all across the Globe, minimizing their impact on the environment.
In fact, this is exactly what Dutch company SnowWorld plans to do in Barcelona, where it is supposed to build and operate a giant carbon-neutral ice-skating and ski dome.
To do so, developers are still waiting for an official approval, but if everything goes according to plan, the resort occupying 39,000 square meters could welcome its first ski enthusiasts as soon as 2015.
Apparently, officials from SnowWorld have it all figured out, knowing exactly what to do to make the dome as eco-friendly as possible. Instead of relying on dirty, traditional sources of energy, the facility will be powered entirely by the sun, plant waste and methane, provided by three important plants.
SnowWorld representatives count on the help offered by B01 Arquitectes, a well-known firm from Barcelona behind the construction of amazing, sustainable buildings.
“For the industrial cooling side, taking temperatures down to -10º C, the designers plan to use the regasification facilities at Barcelona's liquid natural gas terminal,” according to an article published by the Guardian.
The dome, suggestively entitled SnowWorld, will be built using only sustainable materials and will most likely make a good impression, proving that eco-conscious design is both beautiful and revolutionary.
“Liquefied Natural Gas (L.N.G.) is shipped to Barcelona’s ports, and when seawater is used to warm it up from subzero temperatures in order to return it a gaseous state, the by-product is cool energy — which can then be harnessed and used as a refrigerant for building air-conditioning — and making snow if all goes well with approvals,” according to Discovery Channel.
The main goal is to save energy, lower maintenance costs and create a 100% eco-friendly indoor ski resort, the first one of this kind available in the entire world.