Le premier eTree de France est dans ma ville!
Nevers, in Burgundy, is my home town/ ma ville natale ; this is also where all my family still lives, and so I still visit a few times a year and of course never miss an opportunity to take its pulse…. when something is published in the press!
Today an article from Le Journal du Centre -where I started my career- attracted my attention…. : my little town (40 000 inhabitants/ habitants) is to be the first one in France to host an eTree!
What is it? / Qu’est-ce que c’est? : well, it does look a bit like a tree, but with branches / les branches that bear photovoltaic tablets instead of leaves / les feuilles!
And what is it for ? / C’est pour quoi faire ? To recharge / recharger your mobile phone, your ipad or even your electric bike ; to connect / se connecter to the Internet and communicate / communiquer with similar trees all over the world. In order for people to truely benefit from the technology, the eTree has been placed on the main square of the town –la Place Carnot– where youngsters and business people alike often gather for a drink on one of the main cafes, or simply cross on their way to the train station or the shops.
The Franco-Israeli company Sol-Logic had demonstrated the uses of its eTree during the COP21 summit on environment / le sommet sur l’environnement in Paris in 2015, where the invention was awarded a prize for its ecological innovation. It immediately appealed to the mairie de Nevers / townhall. Today, there are similar trees in Israel, Dubai and New York…. and perhaps many more to come.
I am so pleased Nevers is the first French town to get one and I cannot wait to go back and try it! I’ll take a picture for you!
My babies and me, March 2015 on the Place Carnot, almost on the very spot where the eTree now stands.