Paris Balloon takes visitors up in the air while measuring air quality
October 3, 2008
Air quality in Paris is no secret thanks to high-flying tourist attraction with a green angle
Look! Up in the sky! It’s… an air quality measurement system?
In Paris, the tethered balloon in the Parc Andre Citroen has been a fixture going up and down on the Paris skyline for almost 10 years. Manufactured by Aèrophile of France, the balloon provides visitors the opportunity to travel over 50 feet into the air for 360° panoramic views of Paris. Powered by an eco-friendly hydroelectric winch and helium, the balloon can transport up to 30 people at a time. Over its life-span, the Paris balloon has taken up a total of half a million visitors to experience Paris from the air.
But now the balloon is doing double-duty. While retaining its role as a popular Paris attraction for tourists and romantic couples, the balloon now also measures and broadcasts the quality of the air in Paris. Paris has often suffered from heavy pollution and poor air quality, particularly during the warmer months of the year. The city wants to make people aware of air quality for their health, but also to raise awareness of the contribution of traffic to air pollution in Paris and encourage people to take more public transportation.
Since Spring of 2008, the balloon, called Ballon Air de Paris, has been partnering with Airparif, a licensed air-quality-measurement company in France. Not only does the balloon have the capacity to take air-quality measurements, but changes color to reflect the results. The balloon reports air pollution via two methods: the first monitors ambient air quality, while the second indicates the amount of pollution resulting from auto emissions in the city. The balloon turns green for good air quality in Paris, orange for fair and red for poor. It can be seen for over 12 miles.
From the balloon’s open-air basket, visitors to Paris can have a birds-eye view of major monuments (including the Eiffel Tower, located just north of the park), the bridges along the Seine, and Paris’ western suburbs, to name only a few. The balloon is not free flying like familiar hot-air balloons, but is on a cable whose winch is powered by an electric engine that consumes very little energy. So whatever color the balloon turns, it is always “green.”
The Ballon Air de Paris is located in the center of Parc André Citroën in Paris’ 15th arrondissement. It is open to the public everyday from 9am until 30 minutes before the park’s closing. On weekends and holidays, adults ride for 12€, children ages 12-17 ride for 10€, and children ages 3-11 ride for 6€. On normal weekdays, adults ride for 10€, children 12-17 ride for 9€, and children 3-11 ride for 5€. Children under 3 years ride free at all times.
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