www.euronews.com French engineer and inventor Fabrice André is whizzing up the Alpine road to his refuge on his latest invention: a tricycle that can climb upwards at more than 50 kilometres an hour and has 270 kilometres autonomy. "The technology is based on the slow discharge from one battery to another in order to achieve maximum autonomy. And you can always use the pedals," he says with a smile. We meet Fabrice on his tricycle some 2000 metres up high, above Alpe d'Huez, where he chose to settle down some ten years ago. "I wanted to build a place in the middle of nowhere and prove that I could be totally energy independent. That didn't just mean electric autonomy but also for heating, for the garden, the vegetable plot and for transport," he tells us. The refuge is an Aladin's cave of ideas and energy tricks. The priorities are independence and comfort. The refuge is built with logs from trees that came down in a storm. "When it comes to insulation, a 20 centimetre-thick log is as good as 2 metres of glass wool. Then there's compression. The more the building ages, the more water-proof it will become. It's the weight that ensures it is water-proof," says Fabrice. He shows us his new generation wind mill. "This is a vertical wind mill with variable geometry blades. See how it speeds up. As the wind picks up, it closes up. When the wind weakens, it opens up completely. It's virtually indestructible because, on a very windy day, it will adapt and turn into a cylinder ...
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