CIS Tower
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The CIS Tower is the second-tallest building in Manchester, England. Measuring 387 feet (118 m) tall, the glass roofed building is home to Co-operative Financial Services. The Tower was built in 1962, at the time being the tallest skyscraper in Europe. [1]
The building recently underwent a major facelift as it was clad in photovoltaic panels, the UK's largest solar power project to date, which will generate 180,000 kWh per year, or, on average, 21 kW.[2] (Energy usage per capita in the UK is about 5.5 kW.)[3] The tower lost its title as the tallest building in Manchester to the Beetham Tower which is 554 ft (169 m) tall.[1]
The Tower originally was clad with millions of mosaic tiles, inspired by the buildings of New York such as the Seagram Tower. However, pollution and numerous repairs had given it a more dull grey than shimmering silver colour. The directors decided to do something to help the problem of climate change. So CIS was set to go solar.
The CIS Tower was clad in PV panels at a cost of £5.5 million and started feeding electricity to the national grid in November 2005.[4] Given the £5.5 million cost and a capacity to power over 75 homes, it averages to an approximate cost of £73,333 per home.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Green light for high living", BBC, 27 October 2003
- ^ CIS 'Solar Tower' Case Study. solarcentury. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. (conversion)
- ^ United Kingdom Energy Data. Energy Information Administration (May 2006). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. (conversion)
- ^ Building converts to solar power
[edit] External links
- Solar Tower – CIS's Web page about the solar panel project
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