24 Heures. Last Friday, the Swiss parliament ignored a petition calling for a ban on the use of the agricultural chemical glyphosate. The petition, put together by several associations including Greenpeace and the Romande consumer federation, and signed by more than 25,000 people, calls for a ban on the use of all synthetic chemical pesticides. Switzerland’s parliament doesn’t […]
This year’s best Swiss cheese, selected from over 800
Over the weekend a group of judges sniffed and tasted their way through more than 800 different cheeses at the tenth Swiss Cheese Awards hosted in the Vallée de Joux, in Vaud, Switzerland. The most pleasing to nose and mouth was an Alpine gruyère AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) made by Jean-Claude Pittet, from Brassus in […]
Swiss government drops plan to ban plastic bags as supermarkets agree to charge
Switzerland’s largest supermarket chains, Migros and Coop, both recently announced plans to start charging for disposable plastic carry bags. From the 1 November 2016, Migros will charge customers 5 cents a bag. In Migros’ own magazine, Christine Wiederkehr-Luther, director of the Environnement at Migros, says in 2013 the measure was successfully introduced in the canton […]
The almost invisible machinery that uses Lake Geneva to heat 400 homes
Today, a new heating facility on the shores of Lake Geneva was inaugurated. Le News was shown around the plant by an engineer from the maker, Celsius Groupe e. The largest of its kind in Switzerland, it takes heat from the lake, and has enough capacity to heat around 400 buildings. Finding the facility is […]
Europe’s highest dam opened in Switzerland
Switzerland’s longest dam was opened last week. In addition to being Switzerland’s longest it is also Europe’s highest. Situated in the Alpine region of the canton of Glarus the dam is only the tip of a technological iceberg, the visible part of a vast network of tunnels, pumps and underground turbines. The video below shows […]
Swiss to vote on a plan to cut ecological footprint by two thirds
On 25 September 2016, the Swiss electorate will vote on the ‘Green Economy’ initiative, the work of the Green party. Switzerland’s per capita consumption of the earth is far from sustainable. The Green party says three earths would be required if everyone on the planet consumed natural resources, such as water, air, soil or raw materials, […]
Swiss startup doubles solar panel efficiency
Because roof space is limited, the amount of the sun’s energy that can be extracted per square metre matters. Plants typically extract 5% of the sun’s energy, and most roof solar panels on the market extract between 14% and 22%, although figures vary. Last October, the website Mashable reported that SolarCity, whose chairman is Elon Musk, had […]
Switzerland’s summer to continue until mid next week
20 Minutes. Summer temperatures are set to continue in Switzerland. Today the temperature in Locarno in Ticino reached 30 degrees. Roger Perret from Meteonews said “It is extraordinarily hot for this time of the year.” Summer weather conditions look set to prevail across nearly all of Switzerland for most of next week. Meteonews, Meteoblue and Meteo Swiss all […]
Switzerland’s new Gotthard train tunnel might be too small
20 Minutes. The new Gotthard train tunnel, which opened on 1 June 2016, might have a serious design flaw. Next December, Swiss Rail plans to start running high speed trains through the tunnel. The planned speed of these trains is 200 km/h. There are now fears that the tunnel is too tight to run trains this fast. As […]
Despite the exposure to seismic risk, few Swiss homeowners take out earthquake insurance
According to reinsurer, Swiss Re, over three quarters of private buildings in Switzerland have no earthquake coverage. Because earthquakes are rare and are quickly forgotten, public risk perception is low. Even Switzerland, with its well developed insurance culture is no exception. Swiss Re describes Switzerland as a country with a medium seismic hazard. The strongest […]
