
Norwegian Town's Bright Idea Is A Shining Example Of Ingenuity - ColinWright
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/23/240240813/norwegian-town-s-bright-idea-is-a-shining-example-of-ingenuity
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jackgavigan
During WWII, Rjukan became the target of commando raids by joint British and
Norwegian Resistance forces to sabotage the Norsky Hydro plant nearby, which
was producing heavy water for the Nazi nuclear bomb programme.

This was proper, hardcore, bad-ass, hero stuff. Guys parachuted into occupied
enemy territory, knowing that they faced execution by the Gestapo if they were
caught, trekked cross-country for weeks, hid out in the wilderness for months
and snuck into a heavily-guarded facility to plant demolition charges. Later
they sank a ferry carrying supplies of heavy water being transported back to
Germany.

More details here:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage)

~~~
arethuza
The movie of the mission, _The Heroes of Telemark_ was almost as common a TV
fixture in my youth as _The Great Escape_ :

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heroes_of_Telemark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heroes_of_Telemark)

~~~
rurounijones
and has little resemblance to the real story somewhat unsurprisingly

which is a shame because the truth is way more badass than the movie

~~~
the_watcher
This is one of those movies that could really benefit from a well made, modern
treatment.

~~~
fidotron
The BBC/Ray Mears "Real Heroes of Telemark" is fairly good, and you most
definitely get an idea of how tough the guys involved were. Balls of steel.

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howeyc
I think the real story here is the European sense of community. Let's face it,
this project is not really a necessity (and it provides light to a very small
section of the square) but the town decided to pool their money together and
do it anyway.

~~~
adlpz
I have to nitpick here and say that I don't believe this is at all a common
thing in Europe.

It is true that smaller towns tend to have this feeling of community to them,
but I find it hard to find it anywhere with more than a couple thousand
residents.

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Grue3
Italian town did it first:
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/6189371.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/6189371.stm)

~~~
cliveowen
It's written at the bottom of the article.

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andreer
The whole town is actually considered for a place on the UNESCO world heritage
list:
[http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5472/](http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5472/)

It certainly has an interesting history, having started as a company town,
important war history (sabotage of production of materials for the production
of nuclear weapons), and certainly interesting geography.

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mwsherman
I’d like to see this sort of thing in urban areas too. Tall buildings mean
dark valleys. I’m writing this from downtown Manhattan, where the narrow
streets are especially shadowed.

But even in more residential areas of the city, more light at street level
would be a lovely thing. Some of my neighbors have mirrored windows and you’d
be surprised how much light that sends into my apartment.

~~~
toomuchtodo
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
london-23930675](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675)
'Walkie-Talkie' skyscraper melts Jaguar car parts

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fnordfnordfnord
It is so hard to capture a 'light level' with photography. I wish they would
have shown a photo without the reflected light, so as to give some contrast to
the difference.

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pcrh
The spot of light seems very small, They should have it focused on another
reflector in the square to light-up the surrounding area.

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mgeraci
The Atlantic's photography blog, In Focus, has some photos of the mirrors in
the two cities: [http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/10/using-giant-
mirro...](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/10/using-giant-mirrors-to-
light-up-dark-valleys/100613/)

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whage
I wonder why they begin to settle there in the first place. After the first
few houses were up, they were probably aware of the lack of sunlight. So why
would they suddenly need it? Probably because it looks cool, which I agree
with.

~~~
Theodores
The nearby 104 metre waterfall had something to do with it. They used the
waterfall to make electricity and then they used the electricity to make
fertiliser, hence the location.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rjukan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rjukan)

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Zarathust
I really wonder how this will fare during the winter. Granted, there is little
sun during a snowstorm, but this will require a lot of maintenance with
constant de-icing and such.

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conductr
I wonder how much heat this provides? Or is it mainly just to brighten things
up?

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einhverfr
Pondering what happens when the pv cells get snowed under.....

~~~
bjourne
Snow reflects sunlight very well. That is why it is generally darkest in
northern countries in the autumn before the snow comes.

~~~
homeomorphic
I think that's what einhverfr had in mind when he asked what happens when the
PV cells get covered in snow.

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adrianb
But how often do you get sunny weather in that location?

~~~
Arnt
Often enough that when people go skiing in the mountains around there, they
bring along suntan lotion.

~~~
davidw
How about in winter? :-)

~~~
hrkristian
I'd say skiing is predominantly a winter activity...

~~~
davidw
Hey, we're talking about Norway - it's pretty far north - I wasn't 100% sure
:-)

~~~
Arnt
The sun doesn't mind the northerly location. It's only 0.01% extra distance
from its point of view ;)

Seriously, you can get a terrible sunburn if you don't take care of your face.
A couple of days of direct sun plus reflections via the snow surface, and
boom.

~~~
checker
The cold, dry wind rushing past your face can't help either. Rough conditions
for skin.

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smackfu
I was surprised the reflectors were so small.

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adultSwim
Breaking alert: news organizations love puns

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hengheng
So they brought sunlight to a parking lot. A. Parking. Lot. I was hoping for a
decent cafe, restaurant, playground, meeting place, mosque or such to emerge.
Let's see if that's going to happen.

~~~
acqq
I was hoping that support for worship of non-existing supernatural beings
wouldn't appear in the comments. And in case any worshiping object should
appear there, I vote for
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot)

~~~
shabble
I'd prefer a Utah Teapot[1]. Then you can at least have a decent reference for
your shadow rendering implementation.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_teapot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_teapot)

