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This is the Ekocentrum, a wonderful Eco-Center full of
informative displays
about all kinds of sustainable living, from composting to
alternative
transportation to and eco-office and more.
They give informative talks and tours to all kinds of groups.
Schools
take field trips there, and businesses send their employees to
learn basic
ecological principles.
You can see them applying their own principles with a small
green roof
there in the center, some solar panels facing away on top at
right, bikes
down left, and very permeable pathways which allow the grass to
grow.
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This is a straw-bale house being built
very close
to the Ekocentrum. It's a very ecological building material, and
has been
used for centuries. |
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Here is a close-up of one of its walls. Straw bales
are tightly
packed with mud, making for great insulation. Small windows are
also used
to improve insulation. |
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This is the inside, where the builder told us plans
for the
interior. |
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Also near the EkoCentrum, this is yet another example
combining
art and ecology: a solar-panel sculpture. |
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Back near our hotel, here is a fountain powered by
the solar
cells on top there. |
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Here we are in a beautiful apartment courtyard, with
stylish
solar collectors to power the fountain and heat the homes. |
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This is the "Blue House," a prototype for
ecological
wastewater treatment. You can see they're growing vines up those
front pipes
to add live warmth and color. |
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Here is a recycling sign which greets you at the
entrance
to one of Gothenburg's huge recycling centers. They recieve very
large amounts
of material each day. |
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An example of how the environment includes not just
our physical
surroundings but our social ones as well, here is a sculpture in
downtown
entitled "Nonviolence." |
