The House That Turns with the Sun

Some people are more aware than others when it comes to protecting the environment. While some of them think that by not dumping trash wherever they are at the moment is a huge environmental act, others are building entirely self-sufficient houses that take everything from nature without hurting it.

When it comes to ecological houses, probably the most efficient is the one designed and built by solar architect Rolf Disch, in the German city of Freiburg. He started by protesting nuclear power plants in 1975 and is now proving that man and nature can peacefully co-exist, a statement unfortunately disproved by many around us.

What makes this house really interesting is the fact that the Heliotrope, as the house was named, actually turns with the Sun to take full advantage of its light, which is not only used to produce electricity, using solar panels, but also illuminates the house during the entire day.

Slowly, the home turns to follow the Sun's apparent movement in the sky, thus always benefiting from an ideal incidence angle made by light rays on the solar panels, with maximizes their efficiency. Disch thinks that entire communities could be built after this model, as long as people agree to lose some of the creature comfort and go totally green.

As Hanna Lehmann, Disch's wife, says, she has already got used to having a waterless toilet that occasionally emits some truly environmental smells, or to not having a freezer, only a refrigerator, since the freeze would eat up too much electricity for her husband.

I guess some sacrifices must be done by most of us, since we've sacrificed the environment for our personal needs. Hanna has only one regret going for this alternative house: "I miss my Campari on ice." but it's better than missing clean air and fresh water.