Read the news dating May, 2000 and check whether Rolph Disch’s ideas have been realized. Were your predictions about the chances of the new type of houses to get ground correct?

One of the most modern housing estates in Europe is being built in Freiburg which was named Environmental Capital of Germany in 1992. The so-called surplus energy houses on the estate produce more energy than they consume. In his design for the houses, the renowned solar architect Rolf Disch has united modern energy-saving technology with centuries-old solar construction skills.
The houses are positioned with architectural precision, each strictly lined up with the sun. Their terrace-like south-facing facades are designed to soak up the heat, especially in the winter when the sun is low in the sky. Their northern facades, which are three or four storeys high, are closed off, shutting out wind and inclement weather. A refined ventilation system keeps the houses cool in the summer and warm in the winter. "We’ve used 460 kilowatt hours since May," says the architect, gesturing towards the mouse-grey interior of the meter box. "And we’ve produced more than 4,000 kilowatt hours" — without gas or oil. These days, it’s not only journalists who take one of Disch’s guided tours through the first finished row of terraced housing in Europe’s most modern solar construction project, at the foot of the Schlierberg in Freiburg. Fellow architects, engineers, house-builders and whole bus-loads full of tourists travel to Germany’s solar capital to see this first financially feasible housing project that produces more energy on average than it consumes.