The Pearl River Tower: The Skyscraper That Generates Its Own Electricity | Megastructures | Spark 

I rooted around looking for some case studies of the Pearl River Tower, which show the renewables actually make only about 10% of the building electricity: Biomass energy recovery @ 1.2 MW offsets 5% of monthly building energy- almost same as the Solar, which is also 5%. The Wind contributes further 3-5%, up to max 10%. The numbers differ but generally agreed wind NOT cost effective. The biggest contributor to saving energy is the novel fresh air delivery system. I don't know if they achieved their 40% energy reduction target. It was determined that the best way to save energy when designing is by employing more efficient systems.

31:42 for the part u came for

How things like this are possible to build is still amazing to me

Construction of this tower started in 2006 and was completed in 2011, so some of the info in this doc is a decade or so out of date.

I knew "net zero" was a pipedream right from the beginning. Even if they had installed the gas turbines in the basement, that's not "net zero".

What strikes me most is the strive for achievement and success by ambitious, innovative and creative professionals like these architects, construction engineers and designers to fulfil their dreams and create marvels whenever, wherever they can. We must celebrate people like these. Great job.

You can trust the construction worker with a cigarette 12:20 there is no technology that can replace that man right there look at him I'm so proud 🤣

The sheer size of this building and size of those steel beams is quite impressive, even exclusive of the height.

Human ingenuity, engineering and technology is really amazing.

Many thanks for the the effort of creating of this building … it must have not been easy.

I believe many of these technologies were realized at the NEC headquarters building in Japan over 30 years ago. Of course, I think it has evolved since then.

Awesome structure, and excellent architecture, engineering, and execution by all the teams involved. This building is a predecessor to many forward-thinking structure to come.

@36:45 It says safety first, but at 35:47 and 36:00 it shows 2 rodbusters on edge of building clearly not tied off. No OSHA there.

The revolutionary dynamic nature of this building is a testimony to the benefits of the engineering and testing process for both large and small scale construction projects. it is also a testimony to the excellent skilled labor force they have in china.

@42:52 you see a large weather strip sticking out between 2 window panes also not the first building with integrated wind turbines there is one in London UK but because of residential complaints thay are not used

This thing has the cross section of a prostate massager.

well, as an aerodynamicist, sticking a couple (very small) VAWT's in those venturis is kind of a waste, so i guess this was mostly a gimmick. whats the point of building those slots and then sticking in a turbine which captures such a small subset of the flow?

This is an old film. I used to live nearby of this site and watched this tower went up day by day. It was 12 years ago. Not sure if it's working as they claimed.

Thanks!

I am impressed!

Intelligent and smart ideas, how can a person come up with these amazing ideas, this work motivates you to go for more smart and new ideas,

3:01 take a guess what happens in the second after the cut? Pay attention they keep coming closer to the stacks...

Thank You everybody for supporting Green Environmental Ideas to help our Planet Earth.... Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ ☮ ❤

@ 4:45 , fabricating curved box beam is a science and art. Hence, only special steel fabrication shop can meet the challenge. In fact USA has only one steel fabrication shop that can mass produce curved box beam. But China has several; that’s should tell you something.

I hope this project becomes the definitive building for quality because of the current "Made in China" and tofu dreg reputation.

A thought occurred to me a little while after watching this. The act of mining and processing the raw materials for steel, glass, and concrete along with the power and energy for construction of this massive building produced several hundred tons of CO2 and green house gasses. Is such an endeavor worth it when we are trying to limit our output. Couldn't we build smaller spaces that allow people to gather without the wasteful processes used here?

Wonderful innovation!

thx for build strong mega building

8:10 "I knew it, and it just poured out, and it was great". Yup, that's an architect. 😂😂😂

18:20 From heat retention to sun shielding. ☀🛡🏢

Net zero is a joke for that building. The four wind turbines are tiny compared to the building. The solar panels are only on a small portion of the surface. The gas turbines use natural gas, so even if allowed, do not count as net zero. A lot of smoke and mirrors.

That's some precision angle grinding.

I saw XINPING @11:26. 😊😊😊

Actually, it's not a newly shot documentary. The pearl river tower was officially activated in 2007, almost 15 yrs before.

2:06 nice graphic, mega structures. except your sunlight rays is not heading the same direction as your building shadows.

Im 30 seconds in and im calling it now, it may be we dont know the answer to this til the building is done but based on the shape this is gonna be one of those buildings that focuses sunlight onto cars or the street or other buildings and starts melting the shit out of everything

Did he say horizontal turbines can’t turn to follow the wind direction ) at 31:05.

Jeez, when are we gonna run out of concrete? We've used astronomical amounts, really mind-bending....

Wind Tunnels have some data that might be helpful. It will be interesting to see if their design achieves some reasonable approximation of their target energy goals. Everyone interviewed is so Positive, Smiling, UPBeat. I am eager beyond words to know how the design is performing. Time to do some searching....

I fail to see how they got rid of the dripping ceiling from high humidity. We have water coolers at work and after years of disrepair, they leak. This looks like a massive mold - rain problem from the beginning.

Fantastic! 👍Genius 🙏Can we study how well it has performed since completion in 2011? Can we then use this tech in new construction? Striving for Net Zero!❤

This every each process and material with construction could be updated on more higher level, something like The Skyscraper That Generates Its Own Electricity | Megastructures | Spark II , and will be most advanced building and technology, with best outview around this building ) This new building could in autonomous mode by itself clean air polution from carbon dioxide too

38:58 "with military precision" ='s 1 unforklift certified guy struggling to maintain balance of a floor jack with all the weight of the panel on the last 10% of the floor jack and 2 doods with ropes just trying their best to apply forces all "militarily willy nilly style"

Seems like they should have built this tower in San Francisco. They could easily have kept the micro turbines and did net metering. Plus the ocean breeze coming on shore is probably the most reliable place in the World, and there is plenty of sunshine with a cool wind which will keep the solar panels more efficient.

Amazing concept and construction!

I'm not an engineer but question: in the quest for net-0, could a wind turbine of select design be applied to the pinicle where the wind would be constant?

We need more buildings like this in the US and keep striving for eco- friendly buildings. I can't believe how short of a time frame it takes to get your money back and start earning a profit.

Collecting water would be extra cool

Worth noting that the efficiency of the wind generation depends greatly on maintaining un-obstructed flow of air in the vicinity. The designers and builders surely must have done studies to determine how the addition of other structures in the vicinity would introduce turbulence and reduce the efficiency of the overall design. Seems a factor that will increasingly come into play regardless of politics, since economic development seems to require further construction roundabout.

This documentary must be 10 years old

First, full admiration for the builders and organizers who accomplished this ultra-difficult project. Second, I am suspicious of vanity projects. A building should serve the inhabitants, be comfortable and maintain a good micro-climate. The whole philosophy of subordinating habitation to intermittent wind and solar generation is a dead end. For several 100 thousand years humankind either lived in caves, or tried to build substitutes for them, with a constant aim - to protect itself from the chaos of nature. But after the turn of the century we are toying with whimsical ideas, how to do exactly the opposite - to invite the elements inside. A good wind-tunnel is a bad office building and vice versa. If the energy used, the cooling system, the water heating should depend on unpredictable sources, this means there was planning, based on belief in miracles. Saying that, quite a lot of technologies in the tower devoted to energy efficiency and conservation sound smart and deserve to be widely adopted.

Need more simlar🌴

I'm only half way through but am wondering if they used the gravity energy generation tech they use in Japan for this. Would be great if we rebuilt many cities with these technologies so we can put a dent in what we're doing to our beautiful home~

They went as far as to capture wind, solar and elevator energy, why not utilize the water in the plumbing drains as well? Have a water wheel generator somehow. Big cisterns at different levels that capture the energy of falling water. Just sayin

So much for catching a nice breeze thru a window, and a roof garden would be suicide on a structure built broadside to the wind -as would be washing windows. Relief vents or not, that building had to be overbuilt to withstand wind shear, and what happens when sheet rain blocks those releif vents -during high winds? Fatigue of structural members will set in, and like the airframe it aspired to be, the place will be retired at 30 years of service. A massive expense just to drive windmills. The air replacement system would work fine even if the building were not a giant air-foil, since altitude brings high wind anyway.

If I'm not mistaken, the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China, was completed but not open to the public. 😅

What happens to these big buildings when they are not worth maintaining and need torn down but isn't worth the demolition costs?

*Maybe a small percentage but there is no way that entire tower is run by wind.. Wind is not always present nor is there enough anything to collect enough power from it to charge an entire building let a lone a red light..*

44:41 it looks like they're standing on oven grates

Flat Facade cost = 1X, Curved Facade cost = 2X, Double Curved Facade cost = 10X

My city while in China

The sky doesn't lie Looks very polluted

Awesome. 🏜🕺🏻🐕🏖

I cant imagine how to clean those solar panels above it

Thats how u build a building... look surrounding n harness it.... either sun, wind, typhon, flood, tsunami, etc

they mad this mistake before the curved surface will act like a magnifying glass and cook the ground and other building

This is dangerous anything is miscalculated and the harmonic frequencys will destroy the building. This is why it's not being done in America because nobody wants to insure a first of its kind

❤

When I hear the narrator throw around words like "elite, forward thinking, ground breaking " I can only think the script was written for them by the developers and that they are really trying to get the visual out there that they know what they are doing and its all good BUT then I see the thousands of buildings that have come crashing down in China

Chinese workers are hard-working people but safety is not really their priority. Even here in my country can see them ignoring safety.

Why am i hearing about this just now?? These things should be more well known

shes stuck jil, and that deadline is looming.

48:51 That is false, the Bahrain World Trade Centre was one of the first buildings who was design and shape to take advantage of wind power generation.

I couldn't care less about the environment but if this ends up saving money in the long run, it would be great.

The labour make it real

Wonder about the viability of this project, with the ongoing property sector crash.....

Construct an invisible underground geothermal power plant in an adjoining development to help power the building? A carpark above the power plant could have a solar roof & battery packs to feed EV charging outlets? "Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) are maturing technologies where bore holes over three kilometres deep are drilled down to extremely hot underground granite rock. Water is forced into the holes, heated by the rocks and then pumped back through return wells to the surface for use."

i knew it was in china before even reading the description😂

Hightech Gebäude.......................!

The blinds can never be fixed.

Amazing but . Extremely dangerous. Come on too much wind could tear up fans and damage building . Even caught on fire. Power genaration systems need to replace. Dont know how it could recounstruct in wworking building

We don't want to hear what it will do but what it can do

Beams need to be precise. Steel worker uses one eye to make sure the beam is precise. 😐

1.6 Billion or 300 million it's an Actuarity

Oh man, ich habe Glück gehabt

That is called CAMBER adjustment.

Probably having the wind turbine's shaft attached on the ceiling too would have made it more stable. I bet the building maintenance staff loves this building's design...

Since the concave side faces south are we going to have melted people on the ground?

Must be a very stable structure the guy on the 53rd floor had a theodolite set up. weird

It's a good concept, but I won't be energy neutral...simply too many Megawatts needed for a building that size.

isnt better to use solar panels?

Steel toe boots are evidently not a safety requirement in china

Blasting the bed rock is a very bad idea. There's a reason to the thickness of the rock. How do they know by blasting the bed rock won't weaken the strength of the bed rock which is important to support the weight of the building? How do they know the thickness and strength of the bed rock before removing the top off? Do we have technology to fully scan the entire bed rock just to make sure it's safe to erect a tall building? No we don't have. I guess they only assume it's safe to do so after all the owner of the building had already bought the land. Too late to discard the project even if somebody did realise it's isn't safe for high-rise building. Engineers and architects are hired to complete the building on schedule. It doesn't mean the building won't collapse should there be an earthquake hit the building in future. I always question the way tall buildings are built. It's never safe because there isn't a method to do so. It's all plain assumption. So good luck for the owner and the residents. I'll make sure will stay far away from the building. ...

Skimming too much from this project is forbidden, foreigners are recording lol (or at least until they leave) Wonder if the entire building is really done >_>

Installing 8 ton beams that only way 4 tons

this is super old video

Tell me if I'm wrong : Why the HELL did the builder NOT clean the surface on the junction of structural elements? since the REST of the surface actually IS painted ! At LEAST slather GREASE over the junction surfaces, since the Whole Reason why nuts&bolts are used instead of welding, to give some flexibility to the building. DoublePlusGood since it COULD take the nuts&bolts out for inspection, MAYBE even undo the entire junction to SEE the surface hidden by the other side.

What could go wrong.

At 47 minutes you say you were going to.put 3 megawatts of gas turbines in the basement your still feeding energy in just gas insteed of electricty

chinese, safety 1st? 36:42 thats new.