[Keith_McClary]

Mirrors finally bring winter sun to Rjukan in Norway

Rjukan lies in a deep valley, and during the six months of winter the surrounding mountains cast a shadow over the town even at midday.
The idea of using mirrors to bring sunlight to Rjukan was first proposed 100 years ago.

Less smoke, more mirrors.

[Plantagenet]

Ryukan is only at 59°52'52" north latitude. Its not that far north---its not even above the Arctic Circle.

Light deprivation is a big problem in the north----its even harder to deal with then the cold. I'll never forget when the very first big "box store" opened up in central Alaska about 10 years ago.

It opened up in the middle of winter, when it is dark and cold and grey. Alaskan log cabins are designed to keep things warm inside, and don't have a lot of windows so it can get pretty dark inside. The box store had banks of big high powered ceiling lights across the ceiling to light up the huge open interior of the store, and people would go there and sit and talk for hours on the "display" chairs just to get some bright light.

Eventually the store wised up and put in a coffee shop for people to hang out at, but for a while you had to step over and around piles of parkas and people sprawled out on the displays just to go shopping.

[nocar]

Interesting story, which I have not read about before. Stockholm, Sweden where I live is also at the 59th parallel. At my house, there is knoll, or small ridge to the south, which blocks the sun to my garden (with a greenhouse, eliminating its greehouse effect) the same period as in Rjukan. On our upstairs balcony, the sun lingers to early November. Yes, light deprivation is a serious problem for many people at these latitudes. In my case, since my retirement, I can just take a walk up to the top of the ridge to get a glimpse of the sun. Even on cloudy days (many of those) it helps to get at little more light that way.

[Subjectivist]

Interesting story, which I have not read about before. Stockholm, Sweden where I live is also at the 59th parallel. At my house, there is knoll, or small ridge to the south, which blocks the sun to my garden (with a greenhouse, eliminating its greehouse effect) the same period as in Rjukan. On our upstairs balcony, the sun lingers to early November. Yes, light deprivation is a serious problem for many people at these latitudes. In my case, since my retirement, I can just take a walk up to the top of the ridge to get a glimpse of the sun. Even on cloudy days (many of those) it helps to get at little more light that way.

Would the owner of the ridge object to you putting some lo cst reflectors up there?

[nocar]

Subjectivist,

The reflectors of course would have to be on the north side of our house, on the opposite side of ridge, which means they would have to be further down the slope and very tall (expensive) structures which would also shade some other houses - our house is about halfway down. We are hardly the only ones without wintersun. This is a suburb with houses all over - of course those on top of the ridge can see the low December sun - if it happens to be a clear sky, that is, and only for six hours. Sunrise at 9 am, sunset at 15 pm, and the sun close to the horizon in between.