Rafael Vinoly Architects has announced plans for a new green terminal for Florence Airport, in Italy. Its main features include a 19-acre vineyard on the terminal roof, shown in this rendering, which the firm says will "serve as a new landmark for the city's sustainable future." Look through the gallery to see more airports with green innovations.
Rafael Viñoly Architects
In 2022, Geneva airport commissioned and built a large-scale solar panel system on the roof of the airport's East Wing building. Over 3,700 solar panels are spread over the 520-meter length of the building, producing over 1.5 GWh of electricity per year.
Robert Hradil/Getty Images
London's Heathrow Airport uses 100% renewable electricity, powering everything in the airport including lights and escalators. In 2011, Heathrow introduced 21 battery-powered driverless, zero-emission pods, shown here, as a means of transport to and from Terminal 5.
BAA Airports Limited
Since 1991, Zurich airport has reduced its CO2 emissions by 30%. By 2040, it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. Along with 11 photovoltaic systems on its roofs and terminals, over half of the airport site is undeveloped and protected as green spaces, some of which are nature conservation areas.
Flughafen Zürich AG
In 2009, Arlanda opened an "aquifer" near the airport in Stockholm, Sweden, an underground reservoir that stores energy, shown in this diagram. Depending on the season, the aquifer helps to cool or warm the airport.
Swedavia
Barcelona El Prat's parent company Aena built a number of artificial lagoons in the area surrounding the airport, along the El Prat de Llobregat coastal zone, in order to "increase the number of humid zones in the protected area, rewilding these degraded areas that once served as campsites."