Day 1 (well, 1 and 2 sort of) - Traveling to Switzerland
The day has arrived! After much planning, and completing pre-departure course content about renewable energy, it was time to ship out. We left from the campus around 3pm and arrived at Newark International Airport around 5 pm. Our flight departed (on time this year!) at 8:45 pm, and the 10 of us had a short layover in Reykjavik, Iceland on our way to Zurich Airport in Switzerland. I experienced the bad combination of sitting upright (never conducive to sleeping) and then getting into a movie, a thus did not sleep at all. I was pretty discombobulated - we landed at 2am Eastern Standard Time (7 am Iceland time), yet was in full daylight. To add to my discombobulation, I had just watched the movie Interstellar, which has the central themes of time travel, worm holes, and relativity, among other things. Add to that the airline was playing Bjork after we landed, then the café inside the terminal was playing techno music (remember, it was 7am), and I was way out of sorts. An interesting beginning to the trip! But it was cool to see Iceland, which is one thing I never thought I'd be able to say. I only wish I could have stepped foot on the ground. Oh well.
Our connection was smooth - running through the terminal to find one of my students who was getting a sandwich and almost missing the flight notwithstanding - and we landed in Zurich around 1pm, which is 7am EST. Got our bags, figured out how to get the train, got a much-needed coffee and snack, and took the train to Lucerne, which is about 1 hour from Zurich. The ride over was really nice - the weather was great, and many of the views were wonderful. Switzerland probably looks like exactly what you think it does: small villages tucked into valleys, big mountains, green farms on rolling hills, with rivers and lakes interspersed throughout.
We arrived at the main train station in Lucerne, which is a stone's throw from Lake Lucerne, then walked to our hostel, which is also near the lake, but about a 10-15 minute walk from the train station. We are to spend the first 4.5 days in Lucerne (Saturday evening - Thursday morning). It is a medieval-era city of about 50,000, and as you'll see in the pictures below is really beautiful. There are a lot of cobblestone streets, an old castle and castle wall, a medieval-era bridge, lots of winding pedestrian-friendly streets, shops, restaurants, and more. We learned today that Lucerne sells the second-most watches of any city in the world, after Paris. Not bad for a city of 50,000! It is very safe, including at night. There are no "bad" neighborhoods here, which is a very nice feature for a place to take students. Speaking of the students, everyone has been having a really nice time, and getting along swimmingly. We are all very excited to have this adventure together.
By the end of the night we were all exhausted. I personally felt like I had been traveling for 2 days by the end of the day, yet had only departed just over 24 hours earlier. It was a long, but great, 24 hours. Excited to see what the rest of the trip had in store.
Our connection was smooth - running through the terminal to find one of my students who was getting a sandwich and almost missing the flight notwithstanding - and we landed in Zurich around 1pm, which is 7am EST. Got our bags, figured out how to get the train, got a much-needed coffee and snack, and took the train to Lucerne, which is about 1 hour from Zurich. The ride over was really nice - the weather was great, and many of the views were wonderful. Switzerland probably looks like exactly what you think it does: small villages tucked into valleys, big mountains, green farms on rolling hills, with rivers and lakes interspersed throughout.
We arrived at the main train station in Lucerne, which is a stone's throw from Lake Lucerne, then walked to our hostel, which is also near the lake, but about a 10-15 minute walk from the train station. We are to spend the first 4.5 days in Lucerne (Saturday evening - Thursday morning). It is a medieval-era city of about 50,000, and as you'll see in the pictures below is really beautiful. There are a lot of cobblestone streets, an old castle and castle wall, a medieval-era bridge, lots of winding pedestrian-friendly streets, shops, restaurants, and more. We learned today that Lucerne sells the second-most watches of any city in the world, after Paris. Not bad for a city of 50,000! It is very safe, including at night. There are no "bad" neighborhoods here, which is a very nice feature for a place to take students. Speaking of the students, everyone has been having a really nice time, and getting along swimmingly. We are all very excited to have this adventure together.
By the end of the night we were all exhausted. I personally felt like I had been traveling for 2 days by the end of the day, yet had only departed just over 24 hours earlier. It was a long, but great, 24 hours. Excited to see what the rest of the trip had in store.
Day 3 - First Full Day in Lucerne
We were originally scheduled to leave Saturday and arrive Sunday, but it ended up being cheaper to fly out Friday and pay for an extra night in the hostel. Everyone agreed that would be the best plan of action, so we ended up getting a full extra day in Lucerne. It was a beautiful day all day - sunny and warm (but not hot), and the sky was very clear, and thus the mountains clearly visible. Lucerne is surrounded by mountains, as you can see in the pictures below.
Everyone was free to do what they wanted, but we ended up all heading out together. There is a nice little beach on the shore of Lake Lucerne, about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. On the way we encountered a rooftop garden that had a variety of plants labeled, included common name (in German - this is the German part of Switzerland) and the latin name. We met a guy from Michigan who had moved to Lucerne ~4 years ago. He was on a walk with his wife and child to play some outdoor table tennis on the rooftop garden above the cafe next to Lake Lucerne with a nice view of the misty Alps across the lake. Read that sentence again, and it may begin to help you understand why Switzerland is consistently ranked high on the quality of life and happiness scales every year. I heard that they were #1 last year. There is of course more to it than that, but I've noticed that a common activity for the Swiss is to go out and socialize with groups of friends while enjoying food and/or alcohol (no open container laws here, or at least they're not enforced), which I think also contributes to quality of life. They also have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Anyway, I'm not an expert on Swiss culture (yet :) ), but it is clear that they have a very high quality of life on average.
We hung out at the beach for a bit, then headed to the Old City, which is across the lake. As you will see in the pictures, there are a lot of cobblestone streets, murals, statues on buildings, and water fountains. One of the really nice things about being here is there are fresh water fountains EVERYWHERE, and you are welcome to drink from them and/or fill up a water bottle. There is clearly no shortage of water. And it is very clean, fresh, and readily available.
We wandered through Old City and found an old hydroelectric station, the old castle wall, and a giant (old of course!) clock tower. The climb to the top of the clock tower was interesting - you could see the timekeeping mechanisms on the way up, and there were old archer stations interspersed throughout. Most of the signs were in German, so unfortunately I really don't know the story. But the views were awesome! We could clearly see multiple Alpine peaks.
Afterward, we met up with Louis Palmer, whom we contracted to drive us around for three days this week. Louis is a very interesting person. Among other things, he was the first person to circumnavigate the world in a solar-powered car, which he did starting in 2008. It took him 1.5 year, and as he said later, one of the best things about this adventure is that he met all kinds of people along the way, often because he was driving a solar-powered car. He even has his own Wikipedia page! He runs the first all-electric tour bus company in the world, and he also knows a LOT of people in the area (he is from Lucerne), particularly people that are interested in, and more importantly are doing something about energy and sustainability. I worked with Louis to set up a three-day tour on the electric bus, with a focus on renewable energy, sustainability, and cultural education. This basically consisted of Louis saying things like "I know a guy who operates a small hydroelectric power plant and he will give us a tour even though he normally doesn't" and me saying "that's awesome, let's do that!" He would take us around for two days - Monday in the Zurich area and Tuesday in the Bern area. We then have a day off (Wednesday the 3rd), then he would take us around the Interlaken area on Thursday, then drop us off at our hostel in Interlaken.
Anyway, we met with Louis and he went over our itinerary. After talking to him, we were all very excited to share this adventure with him. We said auf viederschen (sp?) and headed back for the evening.
Everyone was free to do what they wanted, but we ended up all heading out together. There is a nice little beach on the shore of Lake Lucerne, about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. On the way we encountered a rooftop garden that had a variety of plants labeled, included common name (in German - this is the German part of Switzerland) and the latin name. We met a guy from Michigan who had moved to Lucerne ~4 years ago. He was on a walk with his wife and child to play some outdoor table tennis on the rooftop garden above the cafe next to Lake Lucerne with a nice view of the misty Alps across the lake. Read that sentence again, and it may begin to help you understand why Switzerland is consistently ranked high on the quality of life and happiness scales every year. I heard that they were #1 last year. There is of course more to it than that, but I've noticed that a common activity for the Swiss is to go out and socialize with groups of friends while enjoying food and/or alcohol (no open container laws here, or at least they're not enforced), which I think also contributes to quality of life. They also have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Anyway, I'm not an expert on Swiss culture (yet :) ), but it is clear that they have a very high quality of life on average.
We hung out at the beach for a bit, then headed to the Old City, which is across the lake. As you will see in the pictures, there are a lot of cobblestone streets, murals, statues on buildings, and water fountains. One of the really nice things about being here is there are fresh water fountains EVERYWHERE, and you are welcome to drink from them and/or fill up a water bottle. There is clearly no shortage of water. And it is very clean, fresh, and readily available.
We wandered through Old City and found an old hydroelectric station, the old castle wall, and a giant (old of course!) clock tower. The climb to the top of the clock tower was interesting - you could see the timekeeping mechanisms on the way up, and there were old archer stations interspersed throughout. Most of the signs were in German, so unfortunately I really don't know the story. But the views were awesome! We could clearly see multiple Alpine peaks.
Afterward, we met up with Louis Palmer, whom we contracted to drive us around for three days this week. Louis is a very interesting person. Among other things, he was the first person to circumnavigate the world in a solar-powered car, which he did starting in 2008. It took him 1.5 year, and as he said later, one of the best things about this adventure is that he met all kinds of people along the way, often because he was driving a solar-powered car. He even has his own Wikipedia page! He runs the first all-electric tour bus company in the world, and he also knows a LOT of people in the area (he is from Lucerne), particularly people that are interested in, and more importantly are doing something about energy and sustainability. I worked with Louis to set up a three-day tour on the electric bus, with a focus on renewable energy, sustainability, and cultural education. This basically consisted of Louis saying things like "I know a guy who operates a small hydroelectric power plant and he will give us a tour even though he normally doesn't" and me saying "that's awesome, let's do that!" He would take us around for two days - Monday in the Zurich area and Tuesday in the Bern area. We then have a day off (Wednesday the 3rd), then he would take us around the Interlaken area on Thursday, then drop us off at our hostel in Interlaken.
Anyway, we met with Louis and he went over our itinerary. After talking to him, we were all very excited to share this adventure with him. We said auf viederschen (sp?) and headed back for the evening.
Day 4 - Energy/Sustainability Tour of the Zurich area
Monday was our first full day on the electric bus. Unfortunately, the electric bus was not working due to a battery error, and Louis had to rent a "normal" tour bus as a substitute. The bright side, as Louis correctly pointed out, is that at least the bus did not break down after we started on our tour. That would have cost us a lot of time, and would have seriously compromised our schedule. So we all loaded onto the converted school bus (not the yellow kind - much more comfortable) at 7:30 am to start the day's journey. This day of traveling was in the Zurich area (see map below), which is primarily to the north of Lucerne. It was another sunny, beautiful day!
Kyburz Switzerland (Electric Vehicle Factory)
Our first stop was at Kyburz Switzerland AG, which is a small electric vehicle factory in the town of Freienstein. Louis is a friend of the founder, owner, and CEO Martin Kyburz. After greeting us, showing us into the production area, and graciously providing us with refreshments, Martin gave us the story of the company. Kyburz designs and builds electric vehicles. Martin has a mechanical engineering background and was working for a “cotton machine” company (never figured out exactly what that meant) in the 1980s. By the late 1980s he had realized that he wanted to do something more meaningful, and began learning about and building an electric vehicle. By 1991 he had founded his company, and offered his first vehicle in 1993. He was inspired by his aging father’s inability to get around easily, and designed a 3-wheeled vehicle that would be easy for older people to use. It took him ~2,000 hours to build, and he built it all on his own. In the first year, he sold around 17 vehicles, and his business did not take off until much later. His wife is a nurse, and as he put it “She made money and I spent it.”
But his business slowly picked up, and in 2009 he won a contract to build vehicles for the Post Office in Switzlerland. Since that time, he has built such a good reputation that 5,000 of his vehicles are being used by Post Offices in Germany, Europe, and New Zealand. His standard vehicle has a 3.5 kWh, 180 Ah battery, and can go 150 km (about 100 mi.) on a full charge. If the battery is totally dead, it only takes about 3 hours to charge. One of the reasons he has been so successful is that he is careful to build high-quality machines that require little-to-no maintenance. Even though the vehicles cost ~3 times as much as a “standard” Post Office vehicle, his vehicles are more economic because a) they require almost no maintenance and b) it is much more time-efficient to use his vehicles, and c) the fuel costs are much lower. His vehicles get the equivalent of 100 km/liter (about 200 mi/gal (!)), which is about 18 times as efficient as a standard petrol post office vehicle. As he said, the post office would not use them unless it saved them money. He now has 75 full-time employees, and is developing a sports car.
He gave us a tour of his small production facility, explaining the different components along the way. Afterwards – the highlight for most of us – we got to test drive the vehicles. They are very fun to drive, with a lot of pickup, despite the fact that their top speed is 45 km/h (about 30 mph). They are very easy to drive as well. After we left, Louis explained to me that Martin is a pioneer in the industry, and that it is extremely rare for one person to have founded and continued to run a successful small company in Switzerland. Martin could not have been more gracious, and it was very kind of him to spend 1.5 hours with us. After all, he has a company to run!
ETH Zurich
Our next stop was ETH Zurich. ETH is the only federally-supported university in Switzerland, though there are other schools that are canton-supportex (cantons in Switzerland are like our states). ETH has three campuses - two in Zurich and one in Lausanne. The one we visited was the "modern" Zurich campus (we will see the "old" campus when we return to Zurich). There are about 12,000 people on campus. All the buildings we saw are very modern, and the one we toured extensively was extremely well-appointed, with modern labs, a green roof, interesting art and architecture, and even a climbing wall. Our tour guide is an engineering grad student, and he was very informative and friendly. He walked us around campus and explained some of the things they do there, and a bit about some interesting spots on campus.
Even more apropos to our course, we were given a tour of the new heating/cooling system. In response to a 2008 self-imposed policy of reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2025, ETH is building a new heating/cooling infrastructure. Most of the buildings are heated and cooled by heat pumps, which can use water as a source of heat and heat sink (this is how geothermal heating/cooling systems work). They are in the process of connecting all of the campus buildings' systems of pipes so they can "share" the water used for the heat pumps. They are making this system extremely efficient in two ways: First, they are using any "waste" heat from one building and using it as a heat source for another building. For example, if one room gets hot b/c there are a lot of people in the room, the system may cool the room. If another room or building needs that heat, the system will deliver it to them. The second way is by connecting the pipes to huge underground storage wells (hundreds of them!) that go 200 m (over 600 ft) below the ground. It is simple conceptually, but difficult in practice. Basically, as heat is absorbed by the water in the cooling season, the hot water is stored in the wells. It builds up over the cooling season, then when the heat is needed as the weather cools, it is used to heat the buildings. As the water cools down during the heating season, the cool water is stored in the tanks, to be used as a heat sink during the cooling season. And so the cycle continues. There are two main pipes in this system - a hot one and a cold one. This is often enough, but if supplemental hot or cold water is needed, there is a third pipe that can provide extra hot or cold water from another source.
ETH is taking other measures to reduce their emissions, such as making buildings more efficient and installing solar arrays. So far, they are on target with their reductions. This was a really interesting tour - it's great to see such an innovative and effective system in action.
Kyburz Switzerland (Electric Vehicle Factory)
Our first stop was at Kyburz Switzerland AG, which is a small electric vehicle factory in the town of Freienstein. Louis is a friend of the founder, owner, and CEO Martin Kyburz. After greeting us, showing us into the production area, and graciously providing us with refreshments, Martin gave us the story of the company. Kyburz designs and builds electric vehicles. Martin has a mechanical engineering background and was working for a “cotton machine” company (never figured out exactly what that meant) in the 1980s. By the late 1980s he had realized that he wanted to do something more meaningful, and began learning about and building an electric vehicle. By 1991 he had founded his company, and offered his first vehicle in 1993. He was inspired by his aging father’s inability to get around easily, and designed a 3-wheeled vehicle that would be easy for older people to use. It took him ~2,000 hours to build, and he built it all on his own. In the first year, he sold around 17 vehicles, and his business did not take off until much later. His wife is a nurse, and as he put it “She made money and I spent it.”
But his business slowly picked up, and in 2009 he won a contract to build vehicles for the Post Office in Switzlerland. Since that time, he has built such a good reputation that 5,000 of his vehicles are being used by Post Offices in Germany, Europe, and New Zealand. His standard vehicle has a 3.5 kWh, 180 Ah battery, and can go 150 km (about 100 mi.) on a full charge. If the battery is totally dead, it only takes about 3 hours to charge. One of the reasons he has been so successful is that he is careful to build high-quality machines that require little-to-no maintenance. Even though the vehicles cost ~3 times as much as a “standard” Post Office vehicle, his vehicles are more economic because a) they require almost no maintenance and b) it is much more time-efficient to use his vehicles, and c) the fuel costs are much lower. His vehicles get the equivalent of 100 km/liter (about 200 mi/gal (!)), which is about 18 times as efficient as a standard petrol post office vehicle. As he said, the post office would not use them unless it saved them money. He now has 75 full-time employees, and is developing a sports car.
He gave us a tour of his small production facility, explaining the different components along the way. Afterwards – the highlight for most of us – we got to test drive the vehicles. They are very fun to drive, with a lot of pickup, despite the fact that their top speed is 45 km/h (about 30 mph). They are very easy to drive as well. After we left, Louis explained to me that Martin is a pioneer in the industry, and that it is extremely rare for one person to have founded and continued to run a successful small company in Switzerland. Martin could not have been more gracious, and it was very kind of him to spend 1.5 hours with us. After all, he has a company to run!
ETH Zurich
Our next stop was ETH Zurich. ETH is the only federally-supported university in Switzerland, though there are other schools that are canton-supportex (cantons in Switzerland are like our states). ETH has three campuses - two in Zurich and one in Lausanne. The one we visited was the "modern" Zurich campus (we will see the "old" campus when we return to Zurich). There are about 12,000 people on campus. All the buildings we saw are very modern, and the one we toured extensively was extremely well-appointed, with modern labs, a green roof, interesting art and architecture, and even a climbing wall. Our tour guide is an engineering grad student, and he was very informative and friendly. He walked us around campus and explained some of the things they do there, and a bit about some interesting spots on campus.
Even more apropos to our course, we were given a tour of the new heating/cooling system. In response to a 2008 self-imposed policy of reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2025, ETH is building a new heating/cooling infrastructure. Most of the buildings are heated and cooled by heat pumps, which can use water as a source of heat and heat sink (this is how geothermal heating/cooling systems work). They are in the process of connecting all of the campus buildings' systems of pipes so they can "share" the water used for the heat pumps. They are making this system extremely efficient in two ways: First, they are using any "waste" heat from one building and using it as a heat source for another building. For example, if one room gets hot b/c there are a lot of people in the room, the system may cool the room. If another room or building needs that heat, the system will deliver it to them. The second way is by connecting the pipes to huge underground storage wells (hundreds of them!) that go 200 m (over 600 ft) below the ground. It is simple conceptually, but difficult in practice. Basically, as heat is absorbed by the water in the cooling season, the hot water is stored in the wells. It builds up over the cooling season, then when the heat is needed as the weather cools, it is used to heat the buildings. As the water cools down during the heating season, the cool water is stored in the tanks, to be used as a heat sink during the cooling season. And so the cycle continues. There are two main pipes in this system - a hot one and a cold one. This is often enough, but if supplemental hot or cold water is needed, there is a third pipe that can provide extra hot or cold water from another source.
ETH is taking other measures to reduce their emissions, such as making buildings more efficient and installing solar arrays. So far, they are on target with their reductions. This was a really interesting tour - it's great to see such an innovative and effective system in action.
Day 5 - Energy/Sustainability Tour of the Bern Area
Today was to be one of my favorite days because we were to see a few hydroelectric installations, which I had never seen before. We scored a coffee maker at the hostel (everyone at Backpacker's Lucerne was awesome), and thus were ready to go when Louis picked us up at 7:30. We headed off toward the Emmental region north of Lucerne.
CKW (Run-of-the-River-Hydroelectric)
The first place we stopped was at a small hydroelectric facility in Emmen, which is a very small town just outside of Lucerne. CKW is a large energy company that operates a number of electric facilities in Switzerland, mostly hydroelectric (generating electricity from flowing water). Most hydroelectric in the U.S. is done through "impoundment" facilities, which uses a dam that creates a reservoir behind it. This facility in Emmen is a run-of-the-river facility, which means the river is diverted before running through the turbine to generate the electricity. This is more environmentally friendly for a number of reasons. This facility is on the Reuss River, which drains Lake Lucerne. The building we were in is on an island that is created by the diversion of the river. The portion of the stream used for hydroelectric is diverted from the main river, and is restricted so it is raised 6 m (about 18 ft) above the level of the river – it runs parallel to the Reuss. Then after 1200 m gets to the power plant. The water goes through a grate to prevent debris from getting to the turbine (there is an automatic cleaning device – like a huge squeegee! – that does this), then uses the elevation change to get extra velocity on its way to meet up with the Reuss again. This turns the turbine, which spins the generator, and generates electricity. The turbine has a capacity of 2.2 MW, and generates about 16 million kWh/yr, which is enough to supply about 3200 average Swiss houses with their annual electricity needs. Incidentally, it would only supply about 1500 average American homes.
One of the good things about this turbine is that it is extremely low maintenance. It requires an average of only 5 – 10 working days of maintenance every 10 years, which is impressive considering the amount of water, stress, and strain the system is under. The turbine turns 24/7/364, and even though the gearbox converts the standard 150 rpm to 1000 rpm, it is the original component from 35 years ago. Swiss made” our guide said semi-jokingly. Facilities like this are going to be important as Switzerland transitions from ~40% nuclear-generated electricity now to zero nuclear (i.e. 100% renewable) by 2050.
Overall, the facility was very impressive – clean, efficient (even the building was super-efficient), and effective. Our tour guides could not have been nicer. One interesting aside: one of our guides told me that he has a large solar PV array on his roof, and that he gets paid $0.60/kWh that he generates, and that this price is guaranteed for 25 years! We later learned that due to the success of this program, new installations only get $0.18/kWh generated. But even at this rate, the system will pay for itself in about 10 years. There is a $0.022/kWh surcharge on all electricity sold in Switzerland to support this, and it does not appear to be terribly controversial. At any rate, it was interesting to learn a little about the incentive program they have.
Microhydro Plant at Shoftland
We then headed to the small town of Shoftland where a friend of Louis' was managing a "microhydro" turbine. In the U.S. a microhydro plant is anything under 100 kW, but this one was about 10 kW. Not very big by large-scale hydro standards, but it still generates about 90,000 kWh/yr, enough to provide 20-25 Swiss homes with their annual energy needs. Our guide Norbert was enthusiastic and bursting with energy. You could tell that he genuinely loves his job! So refreshing to see.
The turbine was built in 2011, and took only 11 months to design, build, and commission, which is extremely quick for a project of this kind. It is a "vortex" turbine, which means it rotates on a vertical axis and creates a whirlpool. Like the first plant we saw, this is a run-of-the-river turbine. A small stream (maybe 20 feet across) is diverted toward the turbine, then goes into a curved concrete pool which guides the water around the turbine (the curve of the pool mimics the curve of the turbine). The water turns the turbine, and an above-ground generator spits out electricity.
There are a few particularly interesting things about this turbine:
Norbert was clearly very passionate about this project, and was thrilled that it will be used to help people in India. This was a very illuminating experience.
Lunch in Emmental
We spent most of the day traveling around the Emmental region of Switzerland, which is west of Lucerne, and consists of rolling hills almost entirely covered with farms and forest. It is not in the Alps - there are no tall snowcapped mountains (though you can often see them in the distance). But it is absolutely beautiful, and the weather (once again) was perfect. We drove to a small emmental cheese factory for a traditional Swiss meal. We had a buffet-style lunch that included various cold appetizers (salad, beets, macaroni salad), asparagus risotto, a cheese plate with three kinds of cheese, some pork schnitzel, potatoes, and that Swissiest of Swiss foods - fondue. The food was delicious, and the students reaffirmed their love of Rivella, a fruity soda. This is a restaurant, but also a bona fide cheese maker, and you can view the workers making cheese below the main level. They also have an old-style cheese maker's farmhouse on site, which is sometimes still used to demonstrate the old ways of doing things. (We did not get to see anything being made, but you could smell the smoke from a previous fire.) The views from the place were spectacular!
Jenni Energietechnik AG - Solar Thermal House and Factory
Next we traveled to Jenni Energietehcnik AG in Oberburg. The company manufactures custom-made and stock solar hot water tanks, and though they sell standard tanks (40, 80, 100 gallon), they are the only company in the world making giant tanks for huge solar installations - their biggest tank to date has been around 50,000 gallons! They are even more well known because they designed and built the first house whose heating (space heat and hot water) was ENTIRELY provided by solar hot water. This house is referred to as Oberberger Sonnenhaus, and the building is still operational and on the company's campus. The key to being able to achieve 100% solar heating is by installing a large tank and enough solar thermal collectors, but more importantly to design the system so it stores all of the "extra" heat in the summer, and use it in the winter when the solar resources are much lower. This may not seem like a big deal, but again, they were the first ones to do this. They are also the first ones to do this for a multifamily residence, which was commissioned in 2007. The multifamily building was also on their campus, and we got to take a look at the solar heating system. The tank is so big that they had to first place the tank, and build the house around it! They are in the process of building a new multifamily residence, and based on their experience from the first building are able to use a tank about half the size, even though the building has more living space.
The company was founded around 1975 by Josef Jenni, who built his first solar thermal system in 1975 and installed it on his parents' roof. His daughter Tabea was our guide, and told us about the company and showed us around the buildings. Josef himself stopped by to talk to us a bit. According to Louis, Josef is really well-known in the renewable energy world in Switzerland, in part because of his company, but more so because he is heavily involved in policy work. Once again, he could not have been more gracious and friendly. Louis also explained to me that 90 cars will be stopping at Jenni to recharge their electric cars on the electric car race he is organizing.
Kambly Cookie Factory - Trubschachen
After we bid tchus (bye-bye) to our friends at Jenni, we headed to the famous Kambly cookie factory in nearby Trubschachen. They make (really good) cookies here, but that is not necessarily a big deal. This factory is well-known because anyone is allowed to go there and taste all the cookies they want, free of charge! They were delicious and abundant. You can buy cookies that you tasted, at a discount. And buy we did! That is a dangerous place, for the stomach anyway.
Dinner on a Mountaintop Organic Farm
Our last stop was in Entlebuch region of Emmental. The residenst in Entlebuch voted to become a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and thus the entire region is focused on doing things sustainable. It is populated mostly with farmers. The Entlebuch label can be seen on foods throughout Switzerland, and it indicates that the food was raised in a sustainable manner. Louis explained some interesting things about the region. One of them is that the cows graze (and live in barns) in the valleys during the winter months, from September to the spring. They then are moved up to the mountaintops to graze all summer, and the farmers build small houses to stay in from time to time, and have barns for the cattle as well. In September on "Greeting Day" all the cows come down to the valley and are greeted by the townsfolk. This is an unofficial holiday for parts of Switzerland, and is apparently quite a site - cows can be seen walking down the valleys, and many roads are closed to make room for the migrating cows.
But we were not cow-watching. Louis has friends that operate a farm in Entlebuch that invited us to a traditional Alpine Swiss dinner. I can't remember the name, but the meal was a "one pot" dinner, meaning it was all made in one pot. The family explained to us (well, to Louls and he interpreted for us) that farmers were very poor and could only afford one pot, hence the one-pot meal. It was VERY hearty, and made with a milk base, with pasta, chopped potatoes, then cheese and carmelized onions. The meal was delicious, and they explained to us that the key was to boil the noodles in the milk to make it especially creamy. They also served us fresh-made apple juice and apple sauce. As should come as no surprise by now, they were extremely friendly and gracious. They have three children - two girls and a boy, and it seemed like they really enjoyed having us as visitors.
The main crop they produce at their farm is herbs, which they sell to Ricola (you now, REEEE-COHLA!). I'm not sure of all the herbs they grow, but we saw a lot of thyme, and a few other crops. They showed us their drying house, where they dry the herbs to sell. They also have a few cattle, and the kids have two goats. We walked up to the top of the hill behind their farmhouse, which has an amazing view of the region. Their neighbor has some wind turbines, which were in full operation when we were there. We did not get to see them up close, but one of them was pretty close.
I can't say enough about how genuinely inviting this family was! They showed us all around their farm, and cooked a delicious meal for us. The students and I all sincerely enjoyed this experience, and appreciated the fact that this is not a typical tourist experience in Switzerland. These were a very down-to-earth, "normal" Swiss farming family, and we really enjoyed meeting them. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip for many of us.
CKW (Run-of-the-River-Hydroelectric)
The first place we stopped was at a small hydroelectric facility in Emmen, which is a very small town just outside of Lucerne. CKW is a large energy company that operates a number of electric facilities in Switzerland, mostly hydroelectric (generating electricity from flowing water). Most hydroelectric in the U.S. is done through "impoundment" facilities, which uses a dam that creates a reservoir behind it. This facility in Emmen is a run-of-the-river facility, which means the river is diverted before running through the turbine to generate the electricity. This is more environmentally friendly for a number of reasons. This facility is on the Reuss River, which drains Lake Lucerne. The building we were in is on an island that is created by the diversion of the river. The portion of the stream used for hydroelectric is diverted from the main river, and is restricted so it is raised 6 m (about 18 ft) above the level of the river – it runs parallel to the Reuss. Then after 1200 m gets to the power plant. The water goes through a grate to prevent debris from getting to the turbine (there is an automatic cleaning device – like a huge squeegee! – that does this), then uses the elevation change to get extra velocity on its way to meet up with the Reuss again. This turns the turbine, which spins the generator, and generates electricity. The turbine has a capacity of 2.2 MW, and generates about 16 million kWh/yr, which is enough to supply about 3200 average Swiss houses with their annual electricity needs. Incidentally, it would only supply about 1500 average American homes.
One of the good things about this turbine is that it is extremely low maintenance. It requires an average of only 5 – 10 working days of maintenance every 10 years, which is impressive considering the amount of water, stress, and strain the system is under. The turbine turns 24/7/364, and even though the gearbox converts the standard 150 rpm to 1000 rpm, it is the original component from 35 years ago. Swiss made” our guide said semi-jokingly. Facilities like this are going to be important as Switzerland transitions from ~40% nuclear-generated electricity now to zero nuclear (i.e. 100% renewable) by 2050.
Overall, the facility was very impressive – clean, efficient (even the building was super-efficient), and effective. Our tour guides could not have been nicer. One interesting aside: one of our guides told me that he has a large solar PV array on his roof, and that he gets paid $0.60/kWh that he generates, and that this price is guaranteed for 25 years! We later learned that due to the success of this program, new installations only get $0.18/kWh generated. But even at this rate, the system will pay for itself in about 10 years. There is a $0.022/kWh surcharge on all electricity sold in Switzerland to support this, and it does not appear to be terribly controversial. At any rate, it was interesting to learn a little about the incentive program they have.
Microhydro Plant at Shoftland
We then headed to the small town of Shoftland where a friend of Louis' was managing a "microhydro" turbine. In the U.S. a microhydro plant is anything under 100 kW, but this one was about 10 kW. Not very big by large-scale hydro standards, but it still generates about 90,000 kWh/yr, enough to provide 20-25 Swiss homes with their annual energy needs. Our guide Norbert was enthusiastic and bursting with energy. You could tell that he genuinely loves his job! So refreshing to see.
The turbine was built in 2011, and took only 11 months to design, build, and commission, which is extremely quick for a project of this kind. It is a "vortex" turbine, which means it rotates on a vertical axis and creates a whirlpool. Like the first plant we saw, this is a run-of-the-river turbine. A small stream (maybe 20 feet across) is diverted toward the turbine, then goes into a curved concrete pool which guides the water around the turbine (the curve of the pool mimics the curve of the turbine). The water turns the turbine, and an above-ground generator spits out electricity.
There are a few particularly interesting things about this turbine:
- It is owned by a cooperative, and anyone (anywhere in the world) can become a member. They operate other facilities, and the buy-in is "only" 1000 Swiss Francs. They provide a 3.3% annual return, and focus on sustainable energy sources.
- It is made entirely with off-the-shelf components, and is not terribly expensive by hydro standards (about 100,000 Francs).
- It can be deployed in almost any condition, and is extremely low maintenance. India is building about 1,000 facilities with these turbines! Most of these are for small villages that do not have reliable, if any, electricity. This is an important point, because many communities cannot afford, nor have the technological expertise to run, some energy facilities. But this turbine can be built without special parts, and can be operated under many conditions.
- The turbine actually improves the local ecology by controlling flooding and oxygenating the water. The vortex is particularly good at adding oxygen to the water.
- No fish or other aquatic life are harmed by the turbine - the blades are far apart, and only rotate at 20 rpm. Also, there is a large space below the turbine and above the stream bed below.
- It is scalable - if you have a bigger river, you just add more turbines and diversion channels.
- Unlike pretty much all other turbines, debris is not a problem. Norbert actually threw a large stick into the turbine to demonstrate this - because of the vortex, the branch just got sucked down and spit out the other side! This is a really important feature.
- The turbine won an award for most innovative design in Switzerland in 2011.
Norbert was clearly very passionate about this project, and was thrilled that it will be used to help people in India. This was a very illuminating experience.
Lunch in Emmental
We spent most of the day traveling around the Emmental region of Switzerland, which is west of Lucerne, and consists of rolling hills almost entirely covered with farms and forest. It is not in the Alps - there are no tall snowcapped mountains (though you can often see them in the distance). But it is absolutely beautiful, and the weather (once again) was perfect. We drove to a small emmental cheese factory for a traditional Swiss meal. We had a buffet-style lunch that included various cold appetizers (salad, beets, macaroni salad), asparagus risotto, a cheese plate with three kinds of cheese, some pork schnitzel, potatoes, and that Swissiest of Swiss foods - fondue. The food was delicious, and the students reaffirmed their love of Rivella, a fruity soda. This is a restaurant, but also a bona fide cheese maker, and you can view the workers making cheese below the main level. They also have an old-style cheese maker's farmhouse on site, which is sometimes still used to demonstrate the old ways of doing things. (We did not get to see anything being made, but you could smell the smoke from a previous fire.) The views from the place were spectacular!
Jenni Energietechnik AG - Solar Thermal House and Factory
Next we traveled to Jenni Energietehcnik AG in Oberburg. The company manufactures custom-made and stock solar hot water tanks, and though they sell standard tanks (40, 80, 100 gallon), they are the only company in the world making giant tanks for huge solar installations - their biggest tank to date has been around 50,000 gallons! They are even more well known because they designed and built the first house whose heating (space heat and hot water) was ENTIRELY provided by solar hot water. This house is referred to as Oberberger Sonnenhaus, and the building is still operational and on the company's campus. The key to being able to achieve 100% solar heating is by installing a large tank and enough solar thermal collectors, but more importantly to design the system so it stores all of the "extra" heat in the summer, and use it in the winter when the solar resources are much lower. This may not seem like a big deal, but again, they were the first ones to do this. They are also the first ones to do this for a multifamily residence, which was commissioned in 2007. The multifamily building was also on their campus, and we got to take a look at the solar heating system. The tank is so big that they had to first place the tank, and build the house around it! They are in the process of building a new multifamily residence, and based on their experience from the first building are able to use a tank about half the size, even though the building has more living space.
The company was founded around 1975 by Josef Jenni, who built his first solar thermal system in 1975 and installed it on his parents' roof. His daughter Tabea was our guide, and told us about the company and showed us around the buildings. Josef himself stopped by to talk to us a bit. According to Louis, Josef is really well-known in the renewable energy world in Switzerland, in part because of his company, but more so because he is heavily involved in policy work. Once again, he could not have been more gracious and friendly. Louis also explained to me that 90 cars will be stopping at Jenni to recharge their electric cars on the electric car race he is organizing.
Kambly Cookie Factory - Trubschachen
After we bid tchus (bye-bye) to our friends at Jenni, we headed to the famous Kambly cookie factory in nearby Trubschachen. They make (really good) cookies here, but that is not necessarily a big deal. This factory is well-known because anyone is allowed to go there and taste all the cookies they want, free of charge! They were delicious and abundant. You can buy cookies that you tasted, at a discount. And buy we did! That is a dangerous place, for the stomach anyway.
Dinner on a Mountaintop Organic Farm
Our last stop was in Entlebuch region of Emmental. The residenst in Entlebuch voted to become a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and thus the entire region is focused on doing things sustainable. It is populated mostly with farmers. The Entlebuch label can be seen on foods throughout Switzerland, and it indicates that the food was raised in a sustainable manner. Louis explained some interesting things about the region. One of them is that the cows graze (and live in barns) in the valleys during the winter months, from September to the spring. They then are moved up to the mountaintops to graze all summer, and the farmers build small houses to stay in from time to time, and have barns for the cattle as well. In September on "Greeting Day" all the cows come down to the valley and are greeted by the townsfolk. This is an unofficial holiday for parts of Switzerland, and is apparently quite a site - cows can be seen walking down the valleys, and many roads are closed to make room for the migrating cows.
But we were not cow-watching. Louis has friends that operate a farm in Entlebuch that invited us to a traditional Alpine Swiss dinner. I can't remember the name, but the meal was a "one pot" dinner, meaning it was all made in one pot. The family explained to us (well, to Louls and he interpreted for us) that farmers were very poor and could only afford one pot, hence the one-pot meal. It was VERY hearty, and made with a milk base, with pasta, chopped potatoes, then cheese and carmelized onions. The meal was delicious, and they explained to us that the key was to boil the noodles in the milk to make it especially creamy. They also served us fresh-made apple juice and apple sauce. As should come as no surprise by now, they were extremely friendly and gracious. They have three children - two girls and a boy, and it seemed like they really enjoyed having us as visitors.
The main crop they produce at their farm is herbs, which they sell to Ricola (you now, REEEE-COHLA!). I'm not sure of all the herbs they grow, but we saw a lot of thyme, and a few other crops. They showed us their drying house, where they dry the herbs to sell. They also have a few cattle, and the kids have two goats. We walked up to the top of the hill behind their farmhouse, which has an amazing view of the region. Their neighbor has some wind turbines, which were in full operation when we were there. We did not get to see them up close, but one of them was pretty close.
I can't say enough about how genuinely inviting this family was! They showed us all around their farm, and cooked a delicious meal for us. The students and I all sincerely enjoyed this experience, and appreciated the fact that this is not a typical tourist experience in Switzerland. These were a very down-to-earth, "normal" Swiss farming family, and we really enjoyed meeting them. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip for many of us.
Day 6 - Free Day in Lucerne
Day 7 - Towards Interlaken
Thursday, June 4th was to be our last morning in Lucerne. After enjoying a free day on Wednesday, we were packed up and ready to go at 7:30 after checking out of Backpackers. I bid farewell to Regula, the owner/operator of the hostel. She and all of her staff were very helpful and accommodating. We loaded into the bus with all of our luggage and headed out for the day. Our final destination was Interlaken, where our next hostel is located. Louis planned it so we would go through the Alps to get there, with a few energy- and culture-related stops on the way there. We had planned to traverse the famed Furka Pass, where among other things a James Bond movie was filmed there. But that was not to be, as a giant mudslide had closed the road the week prior due to saturated soil (!). Louis said it would probably take weeks to reopen, and noted that these types of things were increasingly common as permafrost melted due to climate change. At any rate, Louis determined a new route, which turned out to be astoundingly beautiful.
Solar Farm and Biogas in Kussnacht
Our first stop was in Kussnacht at a small farm, where (of course) Louis knows the folks that live there. Josef runs the farm with his son Josef, another son, and 7 employees (along with 2 refugees – from the Iran and Afghanistan – who work on a part time basis). Louis first met Josef at last year’s solar race (the one that Louis runs) when some of his participants stayed there. Josef has a large biogas installation on his farm, which was the primary reason we went there. He also has a large ~50 kW solar PV array. Biogas is primarily made of methane, methane being the energy-rich component of natural gas. Biogas is generated by the enzymatic digestion of organic material under low- or no-oxygen conditions. Cows and other ruminants generate methane as a byproduct of their digestion, and so they are in effect creating biogas.
Anyway, Seppy (the short form of Josef) runs a moderate-sized operation utilizing biogas that he generates from four primary sources: expired food from local supermarkets, food waste from local restaurants, manure and organic waste from local farms, and food waste from the local residents. Note that in the U.S., much of this “waste” would be deposited into local landfills, in particular the household and restaurant’s organic material. Seppy gets some of this delivered, and some of it he picks up (e.g. he goes to restaurants a few times a week). He has exclusive contracts with the local restaurant association, and the local grocery store chain. All of this “waste” is ultimately deposited into a large digestion tank, which uses enzymes to create biogas. In effect, the digester is a giant cow stomach! The biogas is pumped over to his generator, the liquid waste is given to local farms (it is a rich, organic fertilizer), and the solid waste is composted (also to be given to the local residents). At the end of the day, Seppy turns what could otherwise be considered waste into useful heat, electricity, and organic fertilizer/compost. And he makes money doing this! It makes too much sense not to do. We learned that not all organic waste is created equal – manure provides 30 m3 of gas per ton, grocery store food waste about 80 m3/ton, household food waste ~100 m3/ton, and restaurant waste ~140 m3/ton. The restaurant waste is so high because of the high oil content. He collects from about 140 restaurants, and they pay him 8 Francs/basket, which is about 60 liters (~15 gallons).
The generator is a modified diesel generator, with a maximum power output of 100 kW. Of all the energy that goes into the generator, 50% is converted to useful heat, 40% to electricity, and 10% is lost. If you’re counting at home, that means the generator is 90% efficient. To give you some perspective, a typical small generator is 15% - 25% efficient, a gasoline engine is ~20% efficient, the typical coal-fired power plant is less than 40% efficient, and even our most efficient power plants “only” get around 70% efficiency. 60% of the heat energy is used to facilitate the digestion (there is a heat exchanger attached to the generator), and the rest is used for space-heating and hot water heating. The electricity is mostly fed into the local grid. It generates about 600,000 kWh/yr, and he gets paid $0.30/kWh he generates. Electricity costs about $0.20/kWh normally, so he is getting an extra incentive from the federal government. The whole system cost him about $1.3 million, and will pay for itself in about 10 years. After that, it is almost all profit.
This was an especially interesting experience because Seppy was in the process of building a new digester, as the last one burnt down after the generator caught on fire. Because of this, we were able to walk inside of the digester, which is only possible if it is not being used. He showed us how his system works, and we even saw some of his “fuel” (waste food from the local grocery store, who pays Seppy to take their waste). He also has a HUGE (132 kW!) solar array – this is about 30 times the size of the average household array in the U.S. He also has a little 24-hr store (it is the size of a small shed) that operates entirely on the honor system.
After he showed us around, we sat down for a snack of fresh apple juice and dried apple slices made from his farm, homemade sausages, and homemade bread. We had a pleasant conversation with him, his son, and his wife. Again (I sound like a broken record here), they could not have been more pleasant and gracious. We really enjoyed this authentic Swiss experience.
Traveling Through the Alps – Sustenpass (and a Little Swiss History)
After saying goodbye to Seppy and family, we headed south into the heart of the Alps. On the way there, we stopped at Lake Lucerne, where Louis told us the story of the founding of Switzerland in 1291 (it did not officially become a country until 1849). In the picture below, you can see the small field across the lake where this happened. According to Louis, Lake Lucerne was one of the main trade routes in the Middle Ages, and was much sought-after territory. Many of the valleys had already established villages (most of them still exist today), with independent systems of government, and even different languages. In 1291, 3 of them – Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden – got together and pledged to aid each other should any of them be attacked. These three villages are the first cantons of Switzerland, and still exist today (though Unterwalden has since that time split into two cantons). Lucerne joined Switzerland in 1330, which is when the old Chapel bridge was built. Today there are 28 cantons, but that little field is where it all began.
He also explained the legend of Willhelm Tell, who is a famous figure in the history of Switzerland. In some ways he could be considered the most famous figure. Legend has it that he was a leader of the local confederation, and was captured by the Haps a long time ago (can’t remember when), but somehow managed to overpower them and escape. There is a statue where he landed (see picture below). This is a famous Swiss story, and has been told as a quintessential Swiss success story for centuries. There are many landmarks throughout Switzerland dedicated to Willhelm Tell. It turns out that sometime in the 1990s, historians wanted to find out more about him, only to discover that he likely never existed! Needless to say, this was big news, and kind of a traumatic event in modern Swiss history.
After our history lesson, we headed south through the Alps. Once again, the weather was phenomenal. Even Louis was repeatedly muttering “Wow” and “Oh wow” throughout our drive. We were going up, up, up over thin, curvy mountain roads. It was quite thrilling. The picture below tell most of the story. One interesting thing is that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of motorcyclers on the mountains. Louis pointed out (after seeing the license plates) that most of them were German, but that it is also a common Swiss practice as well. We also saw a number of bikers (bicyclers, that is). I can’t imagine a bike 1/10th of the way up these mountains, nevermind all the way up. As you’ll see in the pictures below, this was not limited to young riders either! One guy that we saw could not have been younger than 65! Impressive.
After taking 1000 pictures (all numbers approximate), we headed over toward the other side, and Louis was looking for a glacier to explore. We ended up stopping at a place that Louis had never seen before. As you can see in the pictures below, the area was covered in snow. Keep in mind that it was early June and the temperature was in the 70s at least (most of us were wearing shorts and were fine). We explored the area, climbing around in the snow an on the rocky outcroppings. The students and I all had a lot of fun running around, and there were more than a few snowballs thrown. We loaded up, sweaty and tired, to go to the next stop, a large hydroelectric facility in Grimselwald.
Solar Farm and Biogas in Kussnacht
Our first stop was in Kussnacht at a small farm, where (of course) Louis knows the folks that live there. Josef runs the farm with his son Josef, another son, and 7 employees (along with 2 refugees – from the Iran and Afghanistan – who work on a part time basis). Louis first met Josef at last year’s solar race (the one that Louis runs) when some of his participants stayed there. Josef has a large biogas installation on his farm, which was the primary reason we went there. He also has a large ~50 kW solar PV array. Biogas is primarily made of methane, methane being the energy-rich component of natural gas. Biogas is generated by the enzymatic digestion of organic material under low- or no-oxygen conditions. Cows and other ruminants generate methane as a byproduct of their digestion, and so they are in effect creating biogas.
Anyway, Seppy (the short form of Josef) runs a moderate-sized operation utilizing biogas that he generates from four primary sources: expired food from local supermarkets, food waste from local restaurants, manure and organic waste from local farms, and food waste from the local residents. Note that in the U.S., much of this “waste” would be deposited into local landfills, in particular the household and restaurant’s organic material. Seppy gets some of this delivered, and some of it he picks up (e.g. he goes to restaurants a few times a week). He has exclusive contracts with the local restaurant association, and the local grocery store chain. All of this “waste” is ultimately deposited into a large digestion tank, which uses enzymes to create biogas. In effect, the digester is a giant cow stomach! The biogas is pumped over to his generator, the liquid waste is given to local farms (it is a rich, organic fertilizer), and the solid waste is composted (also to be given to the local residents). At the end of the day, Seppy turns what could otherwise be considered waste into useful heat, electricity, and organic fertilizer/compost. And he makes money doing this! It makes too much sense not to do. We learned that not all organic waste is created equal – manure provides 30 m3 of gas per ton, grocery store food waste about 80 m3/ton, household food waste ~100 m3/ton, and restaurant waste ~140 m3/ton. The restaurant waste is so high because of the high oil content. He collects from about 140 restaurants, and they pay him 8 Francs/basket, which is about 60 liters (~15 gallons).
The generator is a modified diesel generator, with a maximum power output of 100 kW. Of all the energy that goes into the generator, 50% is converted to useful heat, 40% to electricity, and 10% is lost. If you’re counting at home, that means the generator is 90% efficient. To give you some perspective, a typical small generator is 15% - 25% efficient, a gasoline engine is ~20% efficient, the typical coal-fired power plant is less than 40% efficient, and even our most efficient power plants “only” get around 70% efficiency. 60% of the heat energy is used to facilitate the digestion (there is a heat exchanger attached to the generator), and the rest is used for space-heating and hot water heating. The electricity is mostly fed into the local grid. It generates about 600,000 kWh/yr, and he gets paid $0.30/kWh he generates. Electricity costs about $0.20/kWh normally, so he is getting an extra incentive from the federal government. The whole system cost him about $1.3 million, and will pay for itself in about 10 years. After that, it is almost all profit.
This was an especially interesting experience because Seppy was in the process of building a new digester, as the last one burnt down after the generator caught on fire. Because of this, we were able to walk inside of the digester, which is only possible if it is not being used. He showed us how his system works, and we even saw some of his “fuel” (waste food from the local grocery store, who pays Seppy to take their waste). He also has a HUGE (132 kW!) solar array – this is about 30 times the size of the average household array in the U.S. He also has a little 24-hr store (it is the size of a small shed) that operates entirely on the honor system.
After he showed us around, we sat down for a snack of fresh apple juice and dried apple slices made from his farm, homemade sausages, and homemade bread. We had a pleasant conversation with him, his son, and his wife. Again (I sound like a broken record here), they could not have been more pleasant and gracious. We really enjoyed this authentic Swiss experience.
Traveling Through the Alps – Sustenpass (and a Little Swiss History)
After saying goodbye to Seppy and family, we headed south into the heart of the Alps. On the way there, we stopped at Lake Lucerne, where Louis told us the story of the founding of Switzerland in 1291 (it did not officially become a country until 1849). In the picture below, you can see the small field across the lake where this happened. According to Louis, Lake Lucerne was one of the main trade routes in the Middle Ages, and was much sought-after territory. Many of the valleys had already established villages (most of them still exist today), with independent systems of government, and even different languages. In 1291, 3 of them – Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden – got together and pledged to aid each other should any of them be attacked. These three villages are the first cantons of Switzerland, and still exist today (though Unterwalden has since that time split into two cantons). Lucerne joined Switzerland in 1330, which is when the old Chapel bridge was built. Today there are 28 cantons, but that little field is where it all began.
He also explained the legend of Willhelm Tell, who is a famous figure in the history of Switzerland. In some ways he could be considered the most famous figure. Legend has it that he was a leader of the local confederation, and was captured by the Haps a long time ago (can’t remember when), but somehow managed to overpower them and escape. There is a statue where he landed (see picture below). This is a famous Swiss story, and has been told as a quintessential Swiss success story for centuries. There are many landmarks throughout Switzerland dedicated to Willhelm Tell. It turns out that sometime in the 1990s, historians wanted to find out more about him, only to discover that he likely never existed! Needless to say, this was big news, and kind of a traumatic event in modern Swiss history.
After our history lesson, we headed south through the Alps. Once again, the weather was phenomenal. Even Louis was repeatedly muttering “Wow” and “Oh wow” throughout our drive. We were going up, up, up over thin, curvy mountain roads. It was quite thrilling. The picture below tell most of the story. One interesting thing is that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of motorcyclers on the mountains. Louis pointed out (after seeing the license plates) that most of them were German, but that it is also a common Swiss practice as well. We also saw a number of bikers (bicyclers, that is). I can’t imagine a bike 1/10th of the way up these mountains, nevermind all the way up. As you’ll see in the pictures below, this was not limited to young riders either! One guy that we saw could not have been younger than 65! Impressive.
After taking 1000 pictures (all numbers approximate), we headed over toward the other side, and Louis was looking for a glacier to explore. We ended up stopping at a place that Louis had never seen before. As you can see in the pictures below, the area was covered in snow. Keep in mind that it was early June and the temperature was in the 70s at least (most of us were wearing shorts and were fine). We explored the area, climbing around in the snow an on the rocky outcroppings. The students and I all had a lot of fun running around, and there were more than a few snowballs thrown. We loaded up, sweaty and tired, to go to the next stop, a large hydroelectric facility in Grimselwald.