Скачать или смотреть Norway: Mirrors in the mountains beam sunlight into valley town

W/S Sam Eyde statue

M/S mirrors on the mountainside

W/S mirrors on the mountainside

W/S Rjukan town

W/S Rjukan town

SOT, Gjertrud Lien, Rjukan civilian: "There is no sun in this valley during the winter, from September to March there is no sun. So the idea was to get some sun down to the people so they can be happy during winter time."

M/S restaurant in Rjukan

W/S Rjukan town, Sam Eyde statue

W/S street in town

W/S valley

W/S valley

SCRIPT

Norway: Mirrors in the mountains beam sunlight into valley town

Civilians living in Rjukan, a small valley town in Norway, will enjoy the sun during the winter for the first time in over a hundred years. The town began installing three 50 square meter mirror panels on July 1 to reflect a giant beam of sunlight to the town.

A 200 meter area, enough to cover the whole town square, will be reached by the beam reflected by the mirron panels. Gjertrud Lien, a Rjukan local said, "There is no sun in this valley during the winter, from September to March there is no Sun. So the idea was to get some sun down to the people so they can be happy during winter time."

Rjukan was built in 1907 by the industrial giant, Norsk Hydro, a company that produced artificial fertilizers by fixing nitrogen from the air. Sam Eyde, the company's co-founder and Rjukan's author, knew that the valley which would become Rjukan lacked sunlight from September to March. Eyde came up with the mirror idea to guarantee sunlight to its employees, but during the early 20th century the technology was not innovative enough to produce the sun mirrors.