Sustainability at Falkirk

This week we visited the Falirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift that connects the Forth and Clyde canal to the Union canal. This lift has an elevation change of 24 meters, it can lift a boat from the bottom canal to the top or vice versa in about 4 minutes. Previously it would have taken abut 20 hours and 11 locks to make the same journey.

This is all very impressive, but to what end? The lock system fell out of use nearly a century ago, and canal transport hasn’t  been commercially viable since the the steam engine. What is the point of building a multi million dollar boat lift and digging out these unused canals? What is gained besides an impressive Ferris wheel for boats?

Well I’ll tell you, by digging out these canals and building the wheel Scotland has reopened itself to leisure boating, which in turn has brought business to towns along the canals, such as Falkirk itself. As we saw first hand walking along the canal, there are plenty of thriving businesses along the canal that would not be there without the wheel.

This isn’t even the most fascinating part about the wheel, in my opinion. The wheel can turn with a combined weight of 500 tons of water and boat, yet in only takes 1.5 kilowatt-hours, about the energy to boil 8 pots of water,  to make a half turn of the wheel. This is some very impressive engineering, and it got me thinking about sustainability. I realized this is the ultimate sustainability project. Not because it takes little electricity and produces no emissions, but that is part of it.

To fully understand why this is a prime example of sustainability you must first understand sustainability. It has three components, economic, social, and environmental. This project is economically viable, it brings tourism to the surrounding areas, providing en economic boost. It is socially and culturally positive, it brings new people to the area via leisure boating, and tourism for the wheel itself. Finally it is environmentally friendly, using very little energy, producing no emissions, and having little to no impact on the surrounding environment. These are the types of projects that really show a country has moved from industrial to post industrial.