A group of Lego boffins has taken renewable energy to another level by building a Lego wind turbine.
Not only that, it’s a record breaker. The turbine has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest Lego wind turbine ever built. Ok, they can’t have had much competition, and we doubt there have been any previous attempts. But hey, it’s lego. They’re Danish, probably cuddly, definitely ethical, and AWESOME!
The project was commissioned by Lego to highlight its commitment to renewable energy after successfully reaching its energy targets three years ahead of schedule. Impressed? Get this. Lego now balances 100% of its energy use with renewable energy.
Lego’s achievement didn’t come cheap, though. The entire project took four years to deliver and cost a shade over $900 million. So, we reckon they’ll probably have to shift at least 20 Lego Technic sets to make up the shortfall.
Whilst they dropped nearly a billion dollars, they now part-own two off-shore wind farms. Their Burbo Bank wind farm in Liverpool Bay can generate up to 258 megawatts and provides enough energy to power 230,000 homes. To clarify, that’s real homes and not the lego variety. At 200 meters high, the Burbo Bank turbines are the tallest wind turbines in the world.
The other wind farm has the catchy name of ‘Borkum Riggrund 1’ and lies off the coast of Germany.
The record-breaking Lego wind turbine is slightly smaller than the real thing. Standing 7.5 meters tall there were 146,000 lego bricks used during the 600 hours it took to construct.
Currently on display in Liverpool, the Lego wind turbine shall eventually go on permanent display in Legoland Windsor, England.
However, Lego isn’t stopping there and has clearly caught the renewables bug. The Danish firm plan to install 20,000 solar panels on the roof of their Jiaxing factory in China. The solar panels will provide enough clean energy to power 6,000 homes.
