-
Photo: dog in French Alps believed to be oldest in world
A dog’s life expectancy of this size is around 15-17 years, yet Lazare is 30
-
French post offices to lease electric cars to customers
The La Poste car leasing platform has a selection of 6,500 vehicles
-
Internet outages in France leave residents paying bills despite months without service
Delays are often caused by a split network system separating providers from infrastructure operators, slowing repairs, compensations and accountability
Smart trees bring breath of fresh air to French cities
Smart trees that can water themselves and give out twice as much CO2 as normal trees are bringing a breath of fresh air – and shade – to French cities.
Toulouse recently planted several of the trees and is following the lead set by Paris and Rosny-sous-Bois.
Each tree needs only a square metre of ground space and grows over a metallic structure, which can create a shadow of 45-50m² per tree.
They are made up of different plants, chosen according to the local climate of each location.
The tree is never higher than five metres and autonomous, each having a 200-litre water reserve, which is filled up two to three times a year.
French start-up Urban Canopee is behind the idea and began work on the project in 2016 with researchers from the École des Ponts ParisTech engineering school.
It won a prize at the C40 climate summit this year and is to present the project to 94 mayors in Copenhagen this month.
This year, 40 “corolles”, as the trees are called, have been ordered to be installed in France and other cities in Europe.
Co-founder Hubert Michaudet (pictured left with co-founder Elodie Grimoin) said: “We have had a lot of queries, even from Australia and the United States.”
The trees not only look good but also aim to fight against global warming by bringing more biodiversity and reducing air pollution.
Fellow co-founder Elodie Grimoin initially wanted to “reinvent the gardens of Babylon”.
