Austrian Town Sees the Light

pin_gween writes "The Austrian town of Rattenberg (a 10 minute walk from sunlight during the winter) plans to install a mirror on a mountain to redirect sunlight towards the town. The town was built in the winter shadow of Rat Mountain. The plan is to place heliostat mirrors to shine light in several locations around town, where villagers could 'congregate and get sunned up.' The EU is ponying up half the $2.4 million costs. The company installing the mirrors, Bartenbach Lichtlabor GmbH, is contributing $600,000, and hopes other communities will use their technology."

Re:Potential Problem

[wulfhound]

A glass pyramid /is/ installed next to the most famous French art gallery of all, the Louvre. It serves as an entranceway and atrium roof to some of the underground part of the gallery.

Re:earlier

[wulfhound]

There was certainly a project along those lines planned for a remote part of Siberia, using a large space-based mirror.

new news!

[Celt]

This was on the BBC News website two weeks ago, in fairness atleast can we see the news when it happens

Re:ob Southpark

[shrewd]

actually simpsons did the complete opposite, go on mark me informative ive earned it.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Any pic?

[Anonymous Coward]

Try this: http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr= &q=Rattenberg&btnG=Search [google.com]

Re:All good until...

[c9]

This is in Austria, which is not part of the US. c9

Rat Mountain?

[Udo Schmitz]

Uhm, I don't think so. The places name derives from a guy named Rapoto, offspring of a noble Bavarian lineage, the "Rapotonen". The Rattenberg castle at least dates back to 10th century. More than enough time for the names to change.

Re:Don't like it? Too bad

[killjoe]

Since you brought New Orleans into this allow me to veer offtopic a bit.

I am a middle class guy. If I heard that a hurricane was coming my way I would lock up my house, get in my car and go to some higher ground and stay in a hotel for a week or so. While I am gone I would have a high degree of confidence that my house won't be broken into and my stuff stolen. Even if it (or if the hurricane destroyed my house) I would still be OK. I have insurance, I have money in the bank to sustain myself for a while, I have a good job, I have credit cards. I would be OK while I am waiting for the insurance process to sort itself out.

Compare my situation to that of a poor person in NO. They don't have decent jobs, they don't have credit, they don't have money saved up. Everything they own is in their house. Everything. Nothing in the bank, nothing in a 401K. No insurance. When you leave your house you leave everything you own behind. Being in a poor part the town you also have a very high risk of getting everything you own get stolen or destroyed by the storm.

It sucks to be poor. If you don't have a car, don't have money to stay in a hotel for a week waiting for the storm to pass you are not going to risk hitching a ride or taking a bus and losing everything you have. It's just too much of a risk.

So before you decide that everybody in New Orleans is too lazy to move take a moment to think about their condition.

in AUSTRIA not AUSTRALIA

[dns_server]

It appears that the writer of the heading has goten confused, the town of Rattenberg is located in AUSTRIA which is a country in europe not australia which is in the southern hemosphere. Why would the EU be paying for a project on the other side of the world in australia? Infact the article makes no reference to australia only austria.

Re:Don't like it? Too bad

[ArsenneLupin]

Do they use a diffusing lens to protect peoples' eyesight from direct sunlight?

The difference is that the sun itself is (usually) enough high up in the sky that people don't look into it accidentally, whereas these mirrors sit on a mountainside.

Moreover, the sun will only be visible in these mirrors if you are in one of the "bright spots". So, it may surprise you when driving/walking around, and entering one of these spots, while your eyes are still adjusted to the half-darkness that's everywhere else around.

I ask this half-rhetorically... perhaps there's some strange effect present, like when looking at an eclipse.

The issue with eclipses is that the brightness per area (which causes damage) of the still visible patches of the sun is the same as normal, whereas the overall brightness (which triggers protective reflexes, such as the blink reflex and the shrinking of pupil) is much less.

These won't be probably an issue with these mirrors unless they used convex mirrors...

Re:If you can't stand the heat...

[quigonn]

As I'm Austrian, it is also _my_ money, and I want it to be spent on such a project. One of my grandmothers also lives in a similar valley, and while she lives there very well, it would definitely be a quality improvement if there was a bit more sun during the winters.

Picture link

[jetmarc]

Using the FP as plug for a picture [earthwidemoth.com]..