Eco station
The eco station is an environmental education center in the Freiburg im Breisgau region . It was built on the occasion of the State Garden Show in 1986 and is one of the oldest facilities of its kind in Germany. The organizers count 15,000 visitors at around 600 events every year.
Mission statement and offer
The aim of the eco station is to sensitize the population to environmental protection issues and to educate them about sustainable and future-oriented behavior. Target groups are children and young people of all ages, the interested public as well as national and international specialist audiences.
The main topics are:
- Ecological building
- Use of renewable energies
- Environmental education
- Waste education
- Conservation in the city
- Environmental education and migration / integration
Experts offer consultation hours in which citizens can, for example, get information about creating natural gardens or professional composting .
Furthermore, the eco station carries out various projects in the areas of environmental education and education for sustainable development . These are in cooperation with the cooperation partners, such as B. environmental associations, development policy initiatives and municipal offices. Workshops and seminars are held for all interested parties on the changing projects on offer. Since 2004, several projects have been awarded international prizes. In particular, two projects within the framework of the “Green Classroom” - the Energy Spokesperson Project and “The Blue Treasure Chest” - have repeatedly received awards from UNESCO for the World Decade of “Education for Sustainable Development” . Every year around 280 groups take part in the projects for kindergartens and school classes.
history
The first eco-station was opened in the Seepark Betzenhausen as part of the State Garden Show in 1986 . This building already had a solar system , a green wooden dome roof and an organic garden . The construction was supported by the city of Freiburg and the "Stiftung Naturschutzfonds". Many resident companies and volunteers also made their contribution to the building. During the state horticultural show, the eco station was one of the event's biggest attractions.
The wooden house was completely destroyed in a fire in February 1987. The building was insured, however, so that it could be rebuilt with the support of the city of Freiburg and in cooperation with the BUND and the eco-station could be reopened in summer 1991.
The construction of the second eco-station corresponds to its burnt-out predecessor, but has been adapted to more modern environmental technology standards.
The architectural style is based on the Hogan style of the Diné , so the roof of the central interior is formed by a wooden dome. At the top of the roof there is a glass pyramid as a skylight. The round timber ( fir wood ) used comes from regional forestry, i.e. the Black Forest . The walls are made of clay and sandstone . Other rooms are offices, a kitchen and a south-facing winter garden . All interior windows and doors were taken from demolished houses. The roof is green .
Modern eco station energy concept
The eco station is designed as a low-energy house .
Electricity is generated by the photovoltaic system (24 modules). Until 1999, most of the electricity generated in this way was consumed by the company itself, and surpluses were fed into the local grid. All energy has been sold since 2000, and the company's own electricity requirements are taken from the grid as green electricity.
The room heating is mainly generated with a low-temperature gas heating system. Since 2009 it has been fired entirely with biogas . Since this changeover, the eco-station has been almost CO₂-neutral and has therefore been certified in accordance with the EMAS regulation . A basic furnace and a solar collector system complement the hot water production.
The clay walls, which serve as heat storage , contribute to the thermal insulation . The winter garden also buffers the heat exchange of the building. The dome roof is insulated by blown waste paper flakes, the floor contains a 14 cm thick insulation layer made of recycled cork . The building is completely unsealed.
The water requirement for the plants in the facility's winter garden is covered by rainwater collected from a cistern .
Gardens
The natural gardens are an important part of the facility . They were created with the first eco-station in 1986 and cover an area of around 2500 m².
The medicinal herb garden takes up 200 m² of this area and was designed on the model of medieval monastery gardens . More than 150 kinds of different herbs are grown here.
The kitchen garden, including the composting area, serves to illustrate organic gardeners. Salads, vegetables and herbs are grown here. In the cottage garden has become are rare perennials to find.
Several small biotopes were created within the garden area - such as a pond as a habitat for various amphibians , a dry stone biotope for , for example, reptiles and the butterfly garden, which consists of several elements. One of these elements is the wildflower meadow.
Like all parts of the eco-station, the gardens are freely accessible to the public.
UNESCO awards
| year | Awarded for: |
|---|---|
| 2010/11 | Energy speaker project |
| 2008/09 | "Meadow habitat: native species - global diversity" |
| 2006/07 | Energy speaker project |
| 2004/05 | "The Blue Treasure Chest" |
The institution is sponsored by the BUND Regional Association of the Southern Upper Rhine - Action Environmental Protection e. V.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Web presence of the eco station
- DNR / BUND / NABU brochure (PDF; 2.0 MB)
- EMAS certificate for the Freiburg eco-station
- Meadow habitat: native species - global diversity (Ecostation Freiburg)
Coordinates: 48 ° 0 ′ 42.6 ″ N , 7 ° 49 ′ 15.6 ″ E