Freiburg is a city with a population of 200.000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.
Freiburg has held a leading position in solar energy applications in Germany. Environmental protection complies with the requirements of economic viability, in fact, it created economic welfare. This is the very core concept of sustainability. A sustainable region cannot be developed by a top-down approach or by political decision alone. Its livelihood depends on the active involvement of the people.
Solar building involves more than adding some solar installation to the roof of an existing structure. “Passive” aspects of solar architecture such as south-north orientation, insulation , maximum use of daylight and so forth keep the energy demand of a building at a minimum.
The most ambitious concept is pursued by “Solar Village Schlierberg”. Per annum the solar energy production of the “Surplus-energy Houses” ® of this residential estate exceeds energy consumption. New urban districts Vauban and Rieselfeld comply with Freiburg’s advanced low-energy standard. The ground for this was prepared by the experimental studies of the world’s first self-sufficient solar experimental building (without external energy supply) in Freiburg in 1992 or by Rolf Disch’s futuristic solar house Heliotrop with its revolving structure.
We recently spent a few days in Freiburg and visited the Vauban District. We were deeply impressed by the high level of life quality we could notice among the residents... and how it is positively impacting their young new generation!www.plusenergiehaus.de
