London's new skyscraper, dubbed "The Razor", is touted as the world's first building with built-in wind turbines, reports Inhabitat. The 148-meter Strata Tower features three wind turbines that will generate enough electricity to meet eight percent of the building's requirements.
The 42-story tower, developed and contracted by Brookfield Europe, was designed to take advantage of the area's 35 mph wind speeds. It also takes into account the Venturi effect created by nearby structures that drive the wind through the turbines at faster rates, which is projected to generate 50 MWh of electricity annually, according to Inhabitat.
The turbines will also generate about £16,000-£17,000 (roughly $24,000 to $25,600) annually through the government's new feed-in-tariff, which starts on April 1, according to The Guardian.
Each of the three 19-kW turbines features 5 blades rather than 3 to reduce noise during operation, reports The Guardian. The tower also incorporates other green features including the use of natural ventilation, high-performance glazing, and other energy-efficiency measures that will maintain the building's power use six percent below current building requirements. The design also means it's a step ahead to meet the UK's requirement that all new buildings be zero-carbon by 2019.
The Strata Tower cost £113 million (about $170.2 million) and will be complete by April.
Click here for more photos of the Strata Tower.
Another wind-powered skyscraper includes the Bahrain World Trade Centre, with Paris' Lighthouse tower projected to have one when it's completed in 2015. However, some buildings have nixed their plans for wind-powered buildings including Dubai's Anara Tower and New York's Freedom Tower, according to The Guardian.
