Mark and I (Terry – your eco friend) have always been eco enthusiasts and dream of one day living in an off-grid home. A few years ago we renovated a Moose Mountain Log Home on 15 acres just outside of Calgary. This was a huge renovation and took just under 2 years to complete. Regretfully, […]

Off-Grid Timber Frame, Turtle Valley, BC
Marjorie lives in an off-the-grid home in the mountains near Turtle Valley, about 45 minutes from Kamloops in British Columbia, Canada. Marjorie is a strong and extremely self-sufficient woman and was the builder, designer and contractor for her Timber Frame home. She wasn’t completely alone as she had help from her 23-year-old son. Her dad helped with […]

Earthship: A Most Radically Sustainable Home
We have had the privilege of staying a night in the Phoenix, a Taos, New Mexico Earthship. These friendliest of eco-friendly homes were conceived by architect Michael Reynolds, nicknamed the garbage warrior. He fought for many years to build these off-grid homes and eventually succeeded in getting building permits. The Earthship design principles: Earthship.com: An Earthship is a radically […]

World’s Greenest Home, San Francisco: HGTV video
We visited Robin last fall on our ECO tour and we were amazed at the extent of the green features in her home. The previous post is here: San Francisco Solar and Wind Powered Home. Robin really has to be commended. She installed the first wind turbine in an urban setting. This was to her home in central […]

Worlds Greenest Home, San Francisco: part 1
Robin’s San Francisco home has the distinction of being the first home in an urban U.S. setting to get its electricity from a wind turbine… a fact that homeowner Robin wants to improve. Robin of Whirligig Wind Power spent a considerable amount of time working as an advocate to bring small wind power to urban environments. As […]

EcoNest® Straw Clay Home, Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe is counted as America’s oldest capital city and has an abundance of adobe-styled homes and businesses. These buildings are distinctive, historical representations, that blend Spanish, Native American and other local cultures and are made by combining sand, clay, water and other fibres like sticks or straw. The look combines design elements of Pueblo […]

Passive Solar Sunroom Addition, Breckenridge, CO
Breckenridge has a very high elevation making the sun incredibly bright, almost blinding. The people are active in the area and seem to be very fit. Obviously the ski hills make the area famous, but it is also a great place to visit in the fall. Innovative Energy RenewablePower.com helps homeowners in Breckenridge and area, educating […]

Net-Zero, Leeds Platinum Home, Cupertino, CA
This home in Cupertino seemed to have every green and modern feature imaginable. Homeowners David and Stephania are 2 of 3 principles from “Integrated Design Associates, Inc. (IDeAs) is a California and Colorado based consultancy providing electrical engineering and lighting design services for buildings.” There were many exceptional green technologies used, but when it came […]

Off-Grid Straw Bale Home, Northern California
I had been really looking forward to this stop on the tour…some long off dream of living on an acreage with an off-grid home and my own art studio… that is my dream, Stan and Judy are living theirs. Stan and Judy live off-grid in an area of northern California between Mt. Shasta and Mt. […]

Extremely ECO Renovation, Belmont, CA
David of MyEarthBoundHome.com introduced us to two of his clients, both have lived in their homes for about a year. Yao and Chris, Belmont When Yao and Chris found a great home, with a fantastic view overlooking a 200 acre park, they bought it knowing that some renovations were required to bring this sixties home […]