In the heart of German-speaking Switzerland, exactly halfway between Bern and the border with Italy, there is a place where it is 30 degrees all year round. Even if there's a meter of snow outside, and without turning on any radiators. But simply exploiting the energy and heat of the water coming from the nearby Loetschberg mountain.
We are in the Frutigen tropical greenhouse, where every year, at the antipodes of their habitat but in equally natural conditions, 2 to 3 tons of bananas, the same amount of papaya and even over 3 tons of caviar. Yes, because the water coming from the Loetschberg base tunnel (34.6 km long and wanted by the Swiss Federal Office of Transport as part of the AlpTransit initiative) heats up exactly 1 degree every 100 meters in altitude and therefore reaches the valley of Frutigen the ideal temperature for breeding sturgeon: between 16 and 22 degrees.
And there are sturgeons here as many as 36 thousand, coming from Hungary but of the best species from the Caspian Sea, those who live up to 150 years and whose precious eggs – worked entirely in the tropical center – can be sold for 600 Swiss francs per ounce (500 euros). A remarkable business, therefore, even if still "artisanal" and widespread only locally, on which the Swiss Coop, the majority shareholder of the Tropenhaus, has already got its hands on it.
But as well as a business, Tropenhaus-Frutigen is a real one avant-garde center in the exploitation of renewable energies, given that water as well as bringing heat is also used as a source of energy, as well as the sun and biomass. This is why this corner of the tropics in the middle of the Swiss mountains is also a tourist destination, constantly open to the public, which welcomes around 100 visitors every year.
Visit the website of the Tropenhaus Frutigen
