Sunday, July 17, 2011

Europe's first green restaurant

Europe's first green restaurant where traditional German food is served in a beautifully lit wooden hilltop restaurant powered by solar energy at a height of 1,025 metres amid tall conifer trees in Black Forest.

Rappenecker Hutte is a 350-year-old farm house in south Germany which has been serving as a hikers' inn for several years. The hut in 1995 was the starting point of the downhill course of the Mountain Bike World Championship and is a well-known station of the Black Forest Ultra Bike Marathon.

Europe's first solar-powered restaurant has been a pilot project of the world's famous solar research institution -the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. The restaurant is not connected to any power grid and generates its own energy from photovoltaic cells and a small wind turbine.

Due to heavy snowing during winter, the restaurant opens only for six months from April to September when it receives around 500 guests per week. The restaurant has a capacity to handle around 100 guests in its groundfloor and terrace restaurant besides one in the garden with apple trees and cherry orchards.

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