Waldsee BioHaus
Educator Edwin Dehler-Seter uses muscle power and a variety of common household appliances to give students perspective on energy use: a lamp, fan, stereo, laptop, curling iron, drill, and hair dryer. He regularly gives students a challenge: use energy from your own body to make these tools work.
In one session, a boy named Gabriel takes up the dare and climbs atop the human-powered generator (a bike) as "Eddy" hooks it to a 22-Watt, energy-efficient light bulb. Then Gabriel begins pumping his legs. The lamp easily lights up. But with the jump to the next task, lighting an incandescent 120-Watt bulb, he breaks a sweat.
By the time he gets to the hair dryer, he finds the task nearly impossible. "At first it was really easy; I felt like it was in a low gear," the 13-year-old said. "But when they switched the light bulbs, it got really tiring. I don't think I could keep that up for long." This lesson on energy is just one of the many hands-on activities villagers come across at the Waldsee BioHaus.
The Waldsee BioHaus environmental living-learning center, built at the German Language Village in 2006, is the first certified passive house in North America, having met a set of rigorous building requirements created by Germany’s Darmstadt-based Passive House Institute.
To attain passive house status, a building must be very well-insulated, virtually air-tight, and it must be heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people and electrical equipment. Energy losses must be minimized. Any remaining heat demand is provided by an extremely small source. What results is an impressive system that not only saves up to 90% of space heating costs, but also provides unmatched air quality.
For this house in Minnesota's North Woods, that means using 85% less energy than comparable homes in the area - even in the state's bitter, below-zero winters.
A primary concern for companies that build passive houses is to circulate air in a way that provides excellent air quality and climate control while also preventing the growth of mold – a major concern in many modern buildings.
Passive houses circulate air with through a vapor barrier. A mechanical, balanced ventilation system with heat recovery assures superior air-quality and comfort by continually exchanging the indoor air. Moisture is safely removed, as well as other potentially unhealthy pollutants (for example harmful fumes from carpets or furniture).
In other words, a passive house is healthy for both its inhabitants and its environment. "We wanted a building that would demonstrate what German building looks like today," said Warren Schulze, assistant director for facilities at Concordia Language Villages. "The rest of camp is very much in the Old World style."
With its striking modern facade, and with a form that pays homage to the Bauhaus school of architecture that flourished in the 1920s, the BioHaus was built very much with modern aesthetics in mind. Its floor-to-ceiling windows also recall the post-WWII symbolic gesture of transparency that was popular among the construction companies that built the West German government buildings of the 1950s. “You can’t help but be inspired by it,” said Martin Graefe, the director of year-round programs. “You can’t help but see the kids take something away from it.”
Indeed, what the kids get out of the BioHaus is a different perspective – both on language learning and on living daily life in a way that is respectful to the world outside.
Two groups of villagers make their beds every morning in a dormitory on the building's lowest floor. They bathe in water heated by solar thermal heat panels on the roof - a technology which is distinct from photovoltaic solar cell technology, which converts solar energy directly to electricity. On the ground floor, groups conduct experiments and learn how to test the environment's vital signs - all in German.
The BioHaus also serves as home base for "Grüne Welle," or Green Wave, a hands-on adventure program that has been a staple of the camp's programming for many years. Villagers participating in the Grüne Welle care for the low-growing plants that make up the building's green roof - which both reduces rainwater runoff and adds another layer of insulation to the building while providing a friendly stopover points for butterflies and bees.
The BioHaus connects language, science and environmentalism through its limitless classroom. Science teachers as well as language educators are seeing the BioHaus as a unique opportunity to connect students with curriculum through first-hand experience and examples.
The Waldsee BioHaus was funded in part with a grant by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), the world's largest foundation dedicated to environmental practice, education and construction. The project marks the first time that the foundation has awarded such a grant in North America.
clv@cord.edu
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