D-BAUG - Departement Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik - ETH Zürich

Key Article ▪ New Monte Rosa Hut SAC
figure 3. All three options had similar insulation properties,
but the conventional isolation/aluminium skin package
was shown to be the most favourable alternative.The new
Monte Rosa hut was therefore built with a conventional
isolation package.
The key to achieving truly low-impact construction and
operation was the integrative use of life cycle assessment
during the entire planning phase.The new Monte Rosa hut
shows that a sustainable mountain hut can also provide a
high level of comfort. Even though the electricity demand
of the hut will increase, because of increased guest numbers
and an the addition of a wastewater treatment plant,
the sustainable energy supply and the use of ecological
construction materials will bring down the quantity of
non-renewable energy and cumulated CO2 emissions. Life
cycle assessment of buildings normally show higher environmental
impacts during the building use than during
the construction and disposal phases. Looking at the new
Monte Rosa hut, figure 4 shows that this gap is much
smaller, as sustainable energy is used whenever possible
for running the hut.
42 ▪ D-BAUG Annual Report 2009