Who says you can’t beat Mother Nature

For nearly 800 years, the residents of the small mountain town of Viganella in Italy have had to spend their winters without sunlight, due to the height of the surrounding mountains and the lower sun angle. Now, finally, technology is coming to the rescue in the form of a giant mirror, which was installed on a nearby mountain top in late November. The mirror will be controlled by a powerful “altazimuth” computer that will point the mirror in order to provide the town square with daylight for up to 8 hours per day during the winter months. All I can say is, it’s pretty ingenious, but I wouldn’t want to be a bird living near the town.

Via CapeTimes


One Reply to “Who says you can’t beat Mother Nature”

  1. Morten

    Since the mirror is on 8 x 5 meters, it will only (at most) send the amount of energy that hits this the surface area. In other words they will either
    A: Get “normal” temperatures on a small area on the town square
    or
    B: Spread the light over the hole town, making it almost unnoticable.

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