Modular green home – right sized! Louisville, CO

Modular green home – right sized! Louisville, CO

We met Paul, Connie and their architect Andy during the final phase of construction for their modular green home. Paul and Connie owned a lot in the historic mining town of Louisville and wanted to build a green home on it.  One that was gentle on the earth and didn’t consume a lot of resources. They […]

7 Home Solar Power Myths… Busted!

7 Home Solar Power Myths… Busted!

The following article comes from Planet Save and is By Britt Mauriss On January 27, 2012. The feature photo is by your eco friend Terry. You know it as well as I do—the home solar trend is taking off, as concerns about climate change and rising electricity costs point to clean, renewable solar as a solution. And even though residential solar […]

Passive Solar, Net Zero Home: Goldendale, WA

Passive Solar, Net Zero Home: Goldendale, WA

We first heard of Francis when we met Chris of Winter Sun Design in Edmonds, WA. We asked Chris if he could introduce her to us as she fit the profile of our green homeowners. We had originally planned to head south from Edmonds, so the drive to Goldendale was a considerable distance out of our […]

Worlds Greenest Home, San Francisco: part 1

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

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 […]

Introduction to Solar Photovoltaics

An easy to understand YouTube video to introduce you to Photovoltaics. How PV cells produce electricity

Community Solar Projects

Community Solar Projects

I wrote a post on a the Sabin Coop Co-Housing Community in Portland which will eventually be included in my book. This featured 4 homes built on a single inner city lot. The homeowners shared a central courtyard, gardens, honey bees, yard duties as well as storage facilities and the list continues. The homes are […]

Net-Zero, Leeds Platinum Home, Cupertino, CA

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

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. […]

Eco Friendly Remodel, Eugene, OR

Eco Friendly Remodel, Eugene, OR

Somewhat in the centre of Oregon, just off the Interstate 5, is Eugene. This city seemed to have an exceptional quantity of solar panels. We saw roof panels in just about every residential neighbourhood we passed. We did interview two couples in this green city, but the timing didn’t work out for us to interview […]