Sustainable Energy Successees

   

Living Earth

Based in the beautiful Trieves Valley in Alps Mountains, southeastern France, Living Earth was created in the early 90's. It is a visitor center which aims at providing citizens with advices to improve their ecological behaviour.

Living Earth especially focuses on three areas:
- Ecological gardening
- Ecological housing
- Water saving and waste-water treatment

What can visitors see there ?
- Gardens, where visitors can learn how to grow vegetables and fruits in a sustainable way. Issues like soil, water, biodiversity are addressed. These include a testing area for new ecological gardening products and techniques.
- A permanent exhibition presenting ecological building materials. Buildings of the center are made of these materials.
- The "nega-watt house" permanent exhibition. A "nega-watt" is a watt which doesn't need to be produced because it has been saved. This exhibition explains how a house should be built to save as much energy as possible.
- Water circuit to understand water life-cycle and to learn how to save water.
- Waste-water treatment through reed beds.

Which services are provided ?
- Bookshop with many French publications on ecological gardening, housing and cooking. These books are also available on Living Earth's website (in French)
- Magazine "The 4 seasons of the ecological garden". (in French) Published 4 times a year.
- Ecological Grocery shop.
- Bar and restaurant selling ecological products.
- Information center where visitors can find advices and information sheets on ecological behaviour.
- Workshops and thematic guided tours (some of them are especially designed for children).
- Adapted activities for school classes and groups.

Articles in Sustainable Energy News:
(The issues can be downloaded from the web site of INFORSE.)

• Eco-Centers, Theme including Living Earth
  Issue No. 24, p. 13-14, February 1999 (pdf file 230kB)