The Swiss Houses Making Energy Efficiency Go A Long Way

The Swiss Houses Making Energy Efficiency Go A Long Way by swinssinfo.ch

Household CO₂ emissions in Switzerland have experts talking. Despite its growing population and the amount of space needed per person, emissions still dropped between 2000 and 2013. How?

A new apartment block in Brütten, canton Zurich dubbed “The House of the Future” is a Swiss energy efficiency case-in-point – although it goes several steps beyond even the thriftiest homes on the ground today. Believed to be the first energy self-sufficient apartment building in the world, the dwelling produces all its own heat and electricity using the sun’s energy, and so does not need to be connected to a power grid.

The building’s surface area is covered in solar...