A conceptual design for a 12-storey high duck, covered in a skin of energy producing solar panels, has been submitted as an entry to the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) competition.
Designed by a team of London-based artists, the ‘Energy Duck’ is intended to float in Copenhagen’s harbor and serve as a renewable energy generator, storehouse and interactive tourist destination.
Constructed from a lightweight steel frame, the giant structure is modelled on the common eider duck, with the artists hoping to raise awareness of the impact of global climate change on the bird’s local breeding habitat.
Photovoltaic panels covering the Energy Duck will harness solar power, some of which will be stored and converted to water pressure that will in turn operate electricity producing hydro turbines.
Both the solar and hydro-generated power would be fed to the city’s public grid, as per the requirements of the LAGI competition.
At night, the duck would be lit with low powered LED lamps that change colour in relation to the output of the hydro turbines.
Visitors to the Energy Duck would be able to move around inside the sculpture and witness the water rising and falling within the pressure storage tanks.
Courtesy Inhabitat
