Tribune de Genève. According to Tribune de Genève, at 16:44 yesterday, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, shook Valais. The quake’s centre was 6km north of the town of Sierre at a depth of 8.3 kilometres. The quake, which lasted several seconds was felt throughout central Valais, a canton known for famous resorts such as […]
App offering discounted restaurant leftovers, launches in Geneva
Millions of tonnes of food are thrown away every year. The smartphone app, Too Good to Go (TGTG), aims to solve this problem by offering leftovers at deep discounts. App users locate offers in their vicinity, pay for them by credit card, and pick them up within specified time slots, usually within half an hour of kitchens […]
Switzerland gets its first snow of the season
20 Minutes. Parts of Switzerland were covered in snow this weekend as the snow line crept down to 900 metres in some regions. Appenzell-Innerrhoden had snow at this level, reaching 20 centimetres in depth in places. According to Sharon Satz, from Meteonews, this is quite normal. “It snows at this altitude nearly every year in mid-October. It’s not […]
Swiss government doesn’t want to ban glyphosate
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 […]
