Mirror, Mirror
This fascinating story puts me in mind of the way the people of the future, in our title book (Golf in the Year 2000) , use a huge and complicated array of mirrors to "televise" stage plays and golf matches. In this case, though, the mirrors are going to be used to bring some sunlight to a town in Austria that sits in shadow much of the year because of a mountain that blocks the winter's sun.
"For 370 years, Rattenberg has built its reputation and much of its wealth on the production of crystal glass. ... Now it is hoped another type of glass will banish forever the winter twilight and once more revive Rattenberg's pride and fortune -- mirrors.
"To be precise, 30 computer-controlled 8ft-square reflectors, or 'heliostats,' which will be placed half a mile to the north of the village in the sun-kissed neighbouring commune of Kramsach. The hi-tech mirrors, precision engineered to ensure they are completely flat and thus reflect light accurately, will then bounce the sun rays back to another array of reflectors fixed to the remains of a 17th-century fort overlooking Rattenberg from the slopes of the Stadtberg.
"This second set of mirrors will direct the sunshine down into the village at a dozen strategic points, bathing benighted courtyards and magnificent facades in winter sunshine for the first time since it started life as a silver and copper mine in the 1100s."
[Tags: technology tech solar energy Austria mirrors futurism engineering mountains travel books]
"For 370 years, Rattenberg has built its reputation and much of its wealth on the production of crystal glass. ... Now it is hoped another type of glass will banish forever the winter twilight and once more revive Rattenberg's pride and fortune -- mirrors.
"To be precise, 30 computer-controlled 8ft-square reflectors, or 'heliostats,' which will be placed half a mile to the north of the village in the sun-kissed neighbouring commune of Kramsach. The hi-tech mirrors, precision engineered to ensure they are completely flat and thus reflect light accurately, will then bounce the sun rays back to another array of reflectors fixed to the remains of a 17th-century fort overlooking Rattenberg from the slopes of the Stadtberg.
"This second set of mirrors will direct the sunshine down into the village at a dozen strategic points, bathing benighted courtyards and magnificent facades in winter sunshine for the first time since it started life as a silver and copper mine in the 1100s."
[Tags: technology tech solar energy Austria mirrors futurism engineering mountains travel books]
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