information aesthetics.
an intriguing eco-visualization concept, originally blogged in April 2005, recently seems to have become reality. "Nuage Vert" ("Green Cloud") is a city-scale light installation representing the actual energy consumption (& its accompanying environmental pollution?) of a coal burning power plant.
a high power laser beam illuminates the vapor emission of a coal burning CHP power plant, turning the smoke into a city scale neon sign. the green cloud then grows bigger in real time as local residents take control & consume less electricity.
[link: & (blog)]
Published with 
Content protected by 
Designed and Maintained by 
Time and Date follows Time Zone (Brussels)
"a high power laser beam..."
well, isn't that ironic?
Shouldn't it shrink in realtime as consumers take control and use less electricity?
Well Kevin beat me to it. Let's turn a high power laser beam on all night to convince people to use less electricity. Thumbs down.
I'd just like to point out that high powered is a relative term. The high power in reference to green laser pointers is typically 100-300 mW.
In contrast to energy consumption of even say an incandescent light, that's pretty insignificant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_pen#Green_laser_pointer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb#Power
It would make for an awesome Pink Floyd concert effect, tho.
@vincent: well, it was only an installation lasting a single week... but it looked impressive and raised thoughts on energy issues very effectively!