After more than a year in operation, the solar hot water and space heating system put up at St Timon’s Mountain Shelter in Russia’s Kamchatka region has proved to be both reliable and eco-friendly. Run together with a biomass boiler and a PV system, the 30 m2 field of vacuum tube collectors has made this hostel energy independent all year round. The building is in a protected area on the Kamchatka Peninsula, northeast of Japan, that can only be reached by helicopter.
Photos: Viessmann