Galapagos airport evolves to renewable energy only

Baltra 

The Galapagos islands are known, of course, for those lumbering, giant tortoises and as the inspiration for Darwin's theory of evolution.

Now they boast another cool distinction: an airport believed to be the only one in the world working exclusively on wind and solar energy. 

The metamorphosis to an earth-friendly place serving nature-loving tourists could not be more stark, considering that the airport was actually born of war.

During World War II, US forces built an airfield here on Baltra, one of the 13 islands that make up the Galapagos archipelago in the Pacific, roughly 1,000 kilometers (660 miles) off Ecuador.

It was an outpost meant to counter a possible Japanese advance in the Pacific war theater. Weapons were stored here. Until recently, you could even find deactivated bombs nearby.

But after a 15-month engineering feat that began in 2011 and cost $40 million, the facility could not be more different. Last year, it won a major US award for environmentally friendly design. 

"We've gone from being a place where there were military and aircraft to being an airport that is 100 percent ecological," said Ezequiel Barrenechea, president of the Argentine corporation operating eco-friendly Seymour airport, one of three serving the Galapagos.