Viganella, tiny Italian village, makes their own "sun"

This is a tiny village build in a very steep valley in the Italian Alps.
The problem is during winter, specifically from November the 11th till about 2 February they get absolutely no sunlight at all.

So a clever guy came up with an idea. A Giant mirror, used to reflect sunlight into the little village!



The mirror is made out of an 8 x 5 meter sheet of steel, (26 x 16 ft), and placed on a nearby cliff to reflect the light.


You can see it reflecting in the background.
It is controlled by a computer, that allows the mirror to follows the sun's path, allowing enough sunlight.



There is an illustration to show how it works, and how the reflection is used for getting some sun in the village.
link

Human ingenuity never seizes to amaze.


vvv

that is truly amazing and humanity at it's best. I wish I had more to say about this but I'll leave it at my utter amazement with their practical use of technology to make their lives better.

The sad part is it would take 1.4 millions dollars, two years, and at least one bill to be passed, before we could ever simply solve a problem such as this in America.

Simple minds rule!

I found this video of the mirror in action, quite amazing actually!



vvv

And all would have worked well, but alas, thy village remained in the dark, until the town hall employed a shoosher to get the teen girls away from it.



(cool idea btw! ancient Egyptian tech keeps giving!)

I read about this long ago and have so wanted to go see this place! Thanks for the reminder!
I love stuff like this - really - it's like - well - my hero would have been the man who invented the wheel, ya know?
Human ingenuity is FANTASTIC stuff.
And sure, it may seem obvious what this guy did - but fact is - he did it!
S&F!
peace