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When the Lötschberg Base Tunnel was built it soon became clear that large amounts of water had to be continually removed from the tunnel. Due to geothermal effects, this water has a temperature of roughly year-round, which would damage the sensitive cold-water trout population in nearby rivers. Instead of expending a lot of energy to cool this "wastewater" down, it was decided to build a plant for district heating fed by this water and to build a "tropical" greenhouse with sturgeon farm that would use the heat from the water. The facility which has won several sustainability prizes and has solar panels atop the visitor center is now owned by the Swiss grocery chain "Coop" and produces roughly two tons of caviar in addition to 20-40 tons of tropical fruits every year which are sold to local restaurants, the Coop chain of grocery stores and also the onsite restaurant.
The Tropenhaus in Frutigen, Switzerland, is a commercial project using geothermal energy from hot water flowing out of the Lötschberg base tunnel for the production of sturgeon meat, and caviar and formerly exotic fruit in a tropical greenhouse in the Swiss alps. In 2007, the project received the Prix Evenir, the Swiss petroleum industry's CHF 50,000 award for sustainable development.
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Tellburg castle ruins
The castle dates backs go at least the 13th century. At the beginning of the 15th century the castle was expanded into a palace. It was later used as a prison, tavern, seat of the governor and poor house. In 1885, a fire destroyed the castle, and it has remained in ruins since.