

Proposed NYC park would be underground in old trolley terminal - vegashacker
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/nyregion/high-line-inspires-plans-for-park-under-delancey-street.html

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pak
Oh boy. As a worker in a building that insisted on putting trees and large
plants where they don't belong, like 9 stories above ground or wedged into
tight covered courtyards, this is plan for disaster. The artificial light-
catching equipment just might work on sunny days--I've never seen any in
action, and I'm skeptical how well the above ground part can be integrated
into a busy street without looking uglier than a cell phone tower--but think
of all the energy you waste on artificial light for the other days. Green
project, this is not; plants require a lot of light. That's why they grow in
the sun, you know, and absolutely never in a subway tunnel. And some will
still die, and then you are hauling trees, soil, and landscaping equipment in
and out of a constricted space all the time.

This will be a ton more expensive than the High Line, and probably a
horticultural nightmare.

Plus, people go to parks to get fresh air and enjoy a view, right? Not to
inhale canned fumes in the dark...

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waqf
If they can make the park as bright as it would be outside (on any given day)
then they shouldn't need extra artificial light.

Do you have data on whether their technology can accomplish that?

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pak
Nope, but I would doubt that it could produce as much sunlight as if there
were no roof.

Even if the system were 100% efficient, if we assume that the rays from the
sun are roughly parallel, you'd need as much solar dish area as the square
footage of the park to pipe the same amount of light into it.

The closest thing I could find to a product is this [1] and at $8000 for a
4-foot dish, you're looking at a lot of money to harvest enough light to grow
trees.

The whole idea reeks of gaga-green engineers/architects that don't understand
how hard it is to grow plants; I don't think they're considering how you need
to hit the tree from all angles with the light, otherwise parts of it will
die. Also, lots of larger plants depend on the tracking motion of the sun to
grow normally. Think about the last time you saw an indoor tree that looked
like it was growing nicely: it almost certainly had a glass roof over it,
because they really need that all that light to survive.

[1]
[http://pesn.com/2005/07/27/9600139_Fiber_Optics_Bring_Sun_In...](http://pesn.com/2005/07/27/9600139_Fiber_Optics_Bring_Sun_Indoors/p2.htm)

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sneak
No blankets will be allowed, though. Or free speech.

Seriously, fuck the NYPD. They will ruin anything good that anyone attempts to
build there.

