Hello all!
Upon arriving into Europe we both have noticed significant differences in social infrastructure. Right when we got off the plane in Heathrow London to use the bathrooms we noticed that the toilets used way less water, the toilet paper was not on a roll but individual sheets, there were no paper towels for drying hands, but almost jet powered hand dryers. There wasn't an incendescent lightbulb in sight and the messages on the sides of the underground transport professed '' quick, quick, slow. Even the escalators save energy'' and '' we love rain, all of the water from the roof is recycled''. The London Heathrow airport had some interesting elements of sustainability such as, the usual use of natural light and ventilation, an interesting use of trees in an outer courtyard and also used structural expressionism throughout the building. Also, in Heathrow and Lutton, there were unavoidable recycling bins of different types including paper, glass, plastic, and general waste.
We planned on going to see the solar power tower outside of Seville, but got delayed in Madrid for the night due to over booked trains. The Barajas Airport in Madrid was really awesome! It had almost entirely natural ventilation and lighting using strangely designed vents throughout the building and indirect sunlight reflectors on the cielings. The recycling bins in Barajas Airport left something to be desired.
Madrid, so far is an amazing city. Although we haven't seen any "green buildings" the general culture of sustainability seems to be present. There are recycling recepticles everywhere, one in particular that caught our eyes was a recepticle on a bus stop shelter where you could recycle cell phones, hearing aids and watch batteries, as well as standard batteries. From what we could tell many of the buses seemed to be electric, because the engines weren't putting out any exhaust and were exceptionally quiet. The many and varied balconies on every apartment building contained potted plants and many people were drying their laundry the natural way.
We will post all of the pictures we have taken so far soon. Also, we have both been practicing our spanish lots and the people here are quite friendly.
Regards,
Eli and Maddie
