Artefact PowerPark and Natural Living Space, Gluecksburg

Artefact is a real treat for those who find out about it and then can find it.

It is an outdoor park-type exhibition dedicated to renewable energy and sustainable lifestyles that are in harmony with nature. Everything here is powered by wind and sun, and most exhibits are outdoors. For the most part, they are interactive and several are clever in illustrating principles of energy. Several funky buildings house a exhibits and demonstrate how to use renewable and recycled building materials. All of the exhibits appear lovingly homebrewed, and many deserve more maintenance than they are able to receive.

Several exhibits demonstrate principles like potential and kinetic energy by allowing visitors to turn a crank that lifts a huge concrete weight; by pushing a lever, the weight falls and lifts up an almost equally heavy stone. In another exhibit, visitors spin a heavy rotating disc and can then feel the heat of friction when they push on a metal sleeve that acts like a brake.

Dozens of other exhibits range from solar cells that power a tall water fountain in a pond to blades from real wind turbines to a compost system, honey bee hives. There is even a pair of pigs. An operating wind turbine looked to be generating a significant amount of energy, but unfortunately there was no explanation or readout to indicate how much power was being generated.

The main solar array, however, had a readout that indicated instantaneous power, total kWh, and the equivalent CO2 avoided. The waste-water for Artefact is treated by a multi-phase natural system involving tanks, reed beds, and ponds and demonstrates how facilities can treat their own wastewater.

Artefact is (unfortunately) far off the beaten track but appears to attract a number of school groups for its educational programs. I wouldn’t be surprised if more educational parks like Artefact began to appear in other cities throughout Germany, or other countries where the environment is given a high priority. I could also see nature and science centers in the U.S. adopting this approach of outdoor exhibits to promote the importance of sustainable development, particularly among school children.