Eiffel Tower could become world’s tallest tree

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

The Eiffel Tower may soon become the world's tallest tree, after a proposed plan to cover the 1,063 foot (324 m) structure with plants.

An engineering group called Ginger, which specializes in organic, "green" architecture has spent the past two years putting together a $98.8 million dollar project that would attach 600,000 plants weighing 378 tons to the famed Paris tower. They are currently conducting tests on smaller prototypes to see if the Eiffel Tower can sustain the extra weight. From the Ginger proposal:

The plants would be placed in bags of soil hanging from hemp ropes attached to the tower's steel structure. Twelve tons of rubber piping would irrigate the vegetation.

The plan is also environmentally sustainable. While the construction phase of the project would create 84.2 tons of carbon emissions, the plants themselves would absorb 87.8 tons of emissions, making the project "carbon negative," with more than 3 tons to spare.

If the tests are successful, the plants would be grown from December to June of next year, then placed on the tower in January 2013. They would be on display until July 2016.

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