Electricity in Kandersteg

For the most of us water comes out of the tap and electricity comes out of a socket. But who knows where both are actually coming from?? We do!!

On our last Staff Night Out the Pinkies had the possibility to see all this.

Jack (UK), Pedro (PT) and Melanie (UK) finding out all where their electricity comes from

Kandersteg produces 85% of it’s electricity needs with it’s own hydro-electric power plants powered by the rivers coming down from Oeschinensee and from the Ueschinen valley.

In fact in summer Kandersteg produces more electricity then it uses and sells the excess to the rest of Switzerland. In winter, water levels are lower and some electricity has to be brought in.

Inside the control room at LWK

Together with our guides from the Water and electricity supplier – the LWK, we saw all three power plants with the different turbines.

The oldest turbines are from the 1940’s and the newest one is from 2010.

Producing its own electricity with water has a long tradition in Kandersteg. The first power plants were built in the early 1900’s to electrify the hotels in town.

Inside the original power plant at Oeschiwald

From those early days Kandersteg grew and so did the power plants.

It is quite impressive how this little village in the Swiss Alps tries to be independent and environmental friendly at the same time.

Producing electricity with water doesn’t cause any CO2 or anything dangerous for the environment.

The only thing which gets produced besides electricity is heat from the turbines. But this heat gets used to heat the LWK’s headquarters, Kandersteg Village School and the local swimming pool. Everything is taken care of… Swiss efficiency!!

One of the modern turbines at LWK. The turbine is blue and connects to the generator (red) which produces electricity. The silver box heats water to heat the building using excess heat from the generator

If you want to hear about our drinking water, then wait for our next blog!

Michael Geyer (DE)

Maintenance Assistant



A Story Of Frogs

It’s spring time at Kandersteg! After a very sunny and warm March, April is (until now) cloudy and alternates between rain and snow with a little bit of sunshine.  Even if it is quite annoying you can consider it as typical “April weather” for this region. This constantly changing weather in April is triggered by a big temperature gradient between Northern Europe and Southern Europe in spring. The air temperature tries to balance itself bringing constant weather changes in Central Europe.

Pinkie checking out the frog eggs



The frogs around the Centre don’t seem impressed by the changing weather and are happily reproducing themselves.

One lunch time we had the chance to observe them at close range around the Centre. Their behavior raised plenty of questions and lead to an interesting discussion about what they are exactly doing, where they come from and where they’ve spent the winter.

I did some research and I would like to introduce you to the secret life of the frogs.

Frogs are hibernating animals, they “sleep away” the winter and when spring arrives the animal “wakes up” again. A high concentration of glucose in the frog’s vital organs prevents them from freezing. When they wake up from their winter dormancy they migrate to their breeding sites. The female frogs lays between a hundred to a thousand eggs while the male attaches itself to the female’s back to fertilize the eggs. This position is called “Amplexus”. The male frog sits on top of the female’s back and grasps behind her front legs around her middle section. This can actually last for several days.



The "Amplexus" position



Did you know that frogs are a good sign for an intact environment? Having lots of frogs in an area tells you that the environment is healthy and complete. If for some reason frogs are suddenly missing, then this is telling us about problems in our environment. The frogs are also beneficial to humans because they eat so many insect pests. So it is an important matter to protect them.

Many frogs don’t survive the migration because there are many roads to cross. How can you help?

Make people aware that there is a place where a lot of frogs are crossing the street. In some streets there are constructions built to prevent frogs crossing these roads. In the evening people go and collect the frogs in baskets and then carry them across the busy roads.

So in conclusion the KISC frogs say “quak, quak”.

Irene Vontobel (CH)

Eco Assistant

 

 

 

 

The Awesomeness of Bikes at KISC

Arguably the most amazing aspect to life at KISC is the fact that you’re living and working with people from all over the world.  The “permanent mini-jamboree” may be a cliché, but it is a very real part of the KISC experience.

We’re a bunch of internationals living in a high and enclosed valley in the Bernese Oberland, but we’re certainly not cut off from the outside world.  There’s trains connecting us to the north and south, two cable cars and one gondola in the village allowing for quick access to the higher alps, and besides all that there’s plenty of activities going on in the village all year round.

This is all good, because from the point of view of someone coming from outside Europe, you don’t want to be (or even to feel) closed in.  This is where bikes are especially important. They’re a relatively quick, cheap, and easy form of personal transport, and they’re also a very environmentally friendly way of getting around.  Not only do you not need to use any fossil fuels for the trip, but the extra physical activity is healthy and highly enjoyable too.  It’s great that KISC offers the staff free bikes to use whenever they like, because it frees us up to go and enjoy the outdoors whenever we can. They're particularly useful for getting to and from our local ski slopes though the winter

Sure, sometimes there’s snow and ice on the roads, but though this requires some extra care it’s not too much of a hassle to navigate over safely.  There’s also other cars and buses moving about the village, but the drivers of these vehicles are all proceeding with caution too so they’re no great danger.  There’s really no significant reason not to use bikes to ride around Kandersteg.

Sometimes being environmentally friendly means putting in a little extra effort for the good of the planet.  In this case it’s the opposite; riding a bike to the slopes is a far more attractive option than other forms of transport – the environmental friendliness of this means of getting around is a bonus.  The most appealing feature is the independence it provides, you can go whenever and wherever you like.

Unless you’re a European who brings their own car to KISC, bikes are pretty much the only option for personal transport.  Bike riding can become a habit, a habit you can take back home.  Because if bikes can be a good option for getting around town in the middle of winter in the Swiss Alps, then why don’t we use them more in our more comfortable lives in our home countries?

Eco - Skiing

Skiing is the flavour of the month here at KISC right now.

With some record snowfalls and sub zero temperatures this season, ski conditions couldn’t be better and there is nothing that we like more then a ski day here in the Swiss Alps.

Skiing is one of the best ways to get out into nature in the winter and enjoy our mountain environment.
But Skiing is certainly not the most eco friendly activity around – man made snow, ski lifts, mountain restaurants and man made ski pistes bulldozed into the mountain all pollute in different ways.

So we were interested to see what actions our local ski resorts were taking to try and minimise their impact.

Adelboden is our nearest large ski resort – with a staggering 31 lifts and 53 different ski runs spread over a large area and they are trying some new eco-initiatives this winter season:  

• The Aebi chairlift, one of the main lifts in the network, is committed to using only green energy through the winter to power it.
• Snowmaking at Adelboden is free from chemicals - just water and air are used.

• They have invested in the latest Piste machine, to groom the pistes at Aebi, with far lower emissions then normal
• The longest piste at Aebi, now has an “Energy” ski run with signs informing skiers of their eco policy.

There is still some way to go at Adelboden - it would be awesome to see the initiatives spread from the Aebi area to the whole ski area.

But it is great to see that they have made a start and are considering the environmental impact of skiing.

That is all for now on Ecoblog - it is time to hit the slopes!

The Colour Changing Kander River

The Kander River flows in front of the main chalet here at KISC.

The Kander River in Winter

This river is an on-going mystery to our guests since it regularly varies in colour. It changes from blue to brown to green and sometimes even appears colourless.

To explain the colour changes within this river you must follow the river upstream to its source.

The Kander River is sourced from the Kanderfirn glacier. As glaciers migrate they erode the rock beneath pulling fine grained sediment into suspension. This suspended sediment is called natural rock flour.

The Kanderfirn Glacier

The river colour changes depending on the quantity and type of rock flour.

Rivers containing a lot of glacial flour turn the water a milky brown colour, this gets stronger with high precipitation levels.

In conditions where fine silt and clay particles are suspended they absorb all but the blue wavelengths giving the water a strong blue colour.

Often the river appears a turquoise colour when it is full of quartz and feldspar minerals and meeting with larger bodies of water.

If you look out the window at the Kander River today it is a murky brown colour this is due to the ongoing modification work on the river bed. Keep watching KISC ECO BLOG for more information soon.