Greetings from the heart of the Dolomites - Merano. This is where Queen Elisabeth of the Prussian empire used to take vacations. With its picturesque Alpine setting, peaceful river promenades, blooming cherry trees, incredible gelatto, the wonderful thermal baths, and all the wonders of italiano culture = this was by far the scenic highlight of my 5 week european trip.
Pictures do not do this town justice. I was constantly in awe of the suddenly rising snow-covered peaks with temperatures in the mid 60's. Only the Grand Teton gets close this - and they are 'far-away' from the city.
On things green + groovy: Italy doesn't seem to be quite as enamored as Austrians are with Passiv houses although their solar installations are plenty. Headlines in the papers fret about the coming radiation emissions from the Japan nuclear crisis and people are shunning all sushi and Asian things.
There are important regional German elections this weekend. With the recent announcement of 10,000x radiation releases from Japan, the 48 year reign of the CDU party will probably end - something nobody foresaw 3 weeks ago! Amazing howthings can change in such a short time due to one unpredictable event.
Back to teaching: Austrian students seem impervious to the whole nuclear debate since Austria doesn't have any nuclear power plants. But 6% of all their electricity comes from nuclear (through the Euro common grid), and in NE Austria: 90% of their power comes from an old Soviet era Czech nuclear power plant. I continue to be amazed at their knowledge and ease of handling LCA, embodied energy, biomass + geothermal systems.
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