A few weeks ago, I was shocked to discover that some members of Dublin City Council wanted to make the Ringsend ESB chimneys protected structures. There's no doubt that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I have always thought they are an eyesore but I started thinking about a possible replacement as demolishing them will probably be more trouble than its worth.
My suggestion is that we replace the chimneys with a large wind turbine. GE have a 3.6 MW machine with a diameter of 105m and I believe there are 5MW machines in Germany. London has its eye, Toronto has the CN tower, Paris the Eiffel tower, Sydney & San Francisco have bridges. Dublin could have its windmill & what better way to advertise Wind power than to replace the stacks from old oil burning boilers with a large turbine. There are practical questions to be answered such as whether there is enough wind in the area to power the turbine but I suspect the wind is more than adequate.
Since it would be in the constituency of the leader of the Green Party, I'm sure we could name it after him.

The chimneys are old and every time I land in Dublin I admire them right before the plan touches tarmac and I realise how much I hate Dublin.

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Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.

- Niccolò Machiavelli

Conversation overheard in Dun Laoghaire between two drunken yacht owners;'' Leaving Ireland,Chimneys on Left.....hic!" :Returning to Ireland,Chimneys on left.....no right!!"

Nonsense, Dublin loves you.

I like the chimneys, they are a land mark and have been for some time.

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I know Dublin loves me, but I don't love it back.

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Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.

- Niccolò Machiavelli

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The towers are an eyesore, so take them down if they are no longer in use.

The Green Party has become a really bad joke. Gormless has looked after his state pension, but destroyed the party.

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Great idea wombat but I'm sure the Dubs would end up calling it something a lot more colourful than your name for it. And think of the stories that would circulate and the rumourmill that would start up about how the blades could fly off and behead people or how it might move faster if located near Dublin 4 because of the amount of hot air flowing from there.

The Urban Turbine could be a 6-7 MW Enercon 126 the largest wind-bagger in the world at present - a perfectly suitable symbol for the Irish Capital I tell you.

And Dublin has nothing truly high and eye-catching either like most world-cities so it could take care of that job also, launching Dubling into a new hemisphere of international tourism where people from all over the world could come to climb the structure like they do high things elsewhere and look down on the city and take another photo and pay through the nose - €20 to climb up, the windmill generating money as well as electricity.

It could have a solar station below it too on the ground so that on the days that the wind isn't blowing, the solar station could turn the iconic landmark thus perpetuating the myth that everything is in Dublin. Maybe Dublin Bay could be renamed Windy Arbour?

They're not so bad and can be used as pointers if you are in the right location - IIRc they date from the mid 1970s so they are not that old.

If they want to build a Tower that would be a tourist attraction why not put up a supra Round Tower where that dumb Spire is now and (ala Monsieur Eifel's meccano set) charge people to see the view from the top - now that rather than a windmill would be a real money spinner!

Sure Gormely creates enough wind all by himself to turn a bank of windmills as it is! :P

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COUNTRY FIRST

They're a great symbol of the city, and the only thing that links the city with its bay.

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A lot of architecturally important buildings were bulldozed in Dublin over the past 50 years, the chimneys wouldn't rate very high in comparison. On the other hand the former Battersea power station in London is now a Grade 2 listed building, although it has a lot of interesting art deco architectural features which are absent from the Ringsend chimneys. I'd still prefer them to the spike in O'Connell Street. I don't think they every got nicknames like other pieces of architecture have? (What about the towers at the power?).