In honor of Earth Day, this week’s edition of Top 3 Thursdays will list the greenest roller coasters on Earth. Well, at least the greenest coasters I could find.
3 – The Heege Freizeittechnik Butterfly at Various Parks – Europe
Butterfly is the model name of a very small family shuttle roller coaster. It looks like it could fit in your backyard! They are “self-service” and take only 1.1Kwh/hr to operate at a capacity of 80 riders per hour. While it does take some energy it’s likely a lot less than your average roller coaster. That makes this coaster green in my book. RCDB lists 38 of these little coasters currently in operation mostly at parks in Europe.
2 – Vogn Pa Ror at Joboland Brændesgårdshaven – Denmark
Vogn Pa Ror is described as a “manually operated roller coaster”. Riders pull the car to the top of the hill themselves. After that it runs like a traditional roller coaster.” You can’t beat a people-powered roller coaster when it comes to ecological impact.
1 – Green Dragon at GreenWood Forest Park – United Kingdom
Like Vogn Pa Ror, Green Dragon is a people-powered, only it is much larger. When it opened in 2004, it was billed as the World’s first people-powered roller coaster. Riders climb a hill to get to the loading station while a separate exit station exists at a lower elevation. Then when the cars roll down the hill, they pull empty cars up to the loading station. It looks like a fun ride through the park’s green terrain. Read more about Green Dragon…>>>
Pedal-Powered Ride Not a Roller Coaster
As a public service I’d like to clear something up. The Skycycle at Washuzan Highland Park in 
Okayama, Japan received a ton of Internet buzz last year. Everyone deemed it a pedal-powered roller coaster, but it’s technically not a roller coaster at all. It’s basically a bicycle on a fixed track and doesn’t meet the requirements to be considered a coaster. Even worse people confused an actual roller coaster (also with a white track) near the ride as part of the same track, making Skycycle seem even crazier. While it’s not actually a coaster, the views from Skycyle look amazing!
What’s Your Take?
What do you think of these green roller coasters? Do you know of any other people-powered roller coasters? Would you like to see more of these in the States? Leave a comment below.
June 29, 2009 at 10:32
haha i feel bad for the workers who have to pull the roller coaster up the lift hill haha
October 21, 2009 at 11:18
THIS IS AWSOME
April 23, 2010 at 15:09
i know this is off topic, but wheres the discussion page?
April 23, 2010 at 16:16
Gone. For good. R.I.P., Discussion Page
April 24, 2010 at 01:49
I've answered this a number of times already, but it was replaced with the Forum. Please go there for off topic conversations. Also, for live conversations you can use the chat feature in the new bar at the bottom of the page. It allows for text and web chatting.
August 11, 2010 at 21:21
Okay, but why does no one use the forums anymore? Only 2 or 3 comments have been put up in several months.
April 24, 2010 at 11:08
I wonder if it is hard to pull a coaster you're in to the top of a hill.
June 10, 2012 at 20:37
I actually would like to see more of these in states,I'm not much of a tree hugger but i think that they're so many power generated rides when their should be more. I love RC but the world will need some sacrefices for small things such as putting small rides in for people generating RC!