No utility bills for Jersey home

"Michael Strizki heats and cools his house year-round and runs a full range of appliances including such power-guzzlers as a hot tub and a wide-screen TV without paying a penny in utility bills." This is a great story but it still feels a bit out of reach considering the solar/hydrogen set up was provided mostly for free as part of NJ's attempt, "to have 20 percent of its energy coming from renewables by 2020". Set up as a prototype... "In the summer, the solar panels generate 60 percent more electricity than the super-insulated house needs. The excess is stored in the form of hydrogen which is used in the winter -- when the solar panels can't meet all the domestic demand -- to make electricity in the fuel cell. Strizki also uses the hydrogen to power his fuel-cell driven car, which, like the domestic power plant, is pollution-free." All this can apparently be had for 100k. See full story at the Link.

Related:
Free Solar Panel...Sorta - energyrefuge.com
Florida groups push energy bill - newspress.com

Chevy Volt needs help with the battery... part

I have this dream that one day the car that sits under our house will plug into a solar charged battery. No gas, clean, handy set up with plenty of power to go anywhere we would need in our daily lives. It wouldn't have to be so far fetched if American car companies had actually followed their own electric powered technology for the greater good of the consumer. But if they would have continued back in the 90's then they would have lost all the extra profits gasoline cars produced. The problem for US car companies is that electric/hybrid cars are becoming more and more desirable and they are finally giving in to consumer demands almost. Enter the Chevy Volt. They can't seem to get the battery part to work out. 3-5 years they say... is this another stall? On top of this delay they are asking the feds to fund their battery project for $500,000,000. It is a bail out request because they missed the boat the first time around. We'd have all this technology set up by now if they'd looked at a bigger picture instead of dollars earlier. Oh and to aid in solving the problem of our dependence on foreign oil, Bush has lifted the bans on drilling in both the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's Bristol Bay.

A must read are the following links from AutoblogGreen:
Director Chris Paine on the Chevy Volt
Plug-in America's Paul Scott

mygreenbuildings.com

One of the companies we are asking to quote our build is mygreenbuildings.com. They are local (Sarasota) and committed to using green building materials. They get the basics, like responsible handling of construction waste etc. They mainly focus on green remodels but if they could build our shell we are going to try to handle the interior finish work as it will be very minimal and clean. As I mentioned early on in this blog, this is not straw bale country. FL has unique building criteria if you want to attempt to stay mold free and remain standing after the hurricane winds begin to blow. They use a building envelop system called Ewall. In this case I think the E stands for efficient vs. eco but I think you pick your battles. The material creates less waste and is strong and solid. We do not know if we can afford this company but they are in the ball park with the type of builder we need. Just like the foodie craze in this country or Starbucks (used just as an example of mainstream consumer education), it's all about educating (aka marketing) the consumer as to why you pay more. In an ironic twist, it is very hard to find educated builders who can help you build green. I think that is the most frustrating thing. To build green usually means you need to be very wealthy just because materials, builders and resources are still so scarce. Except, of course, if you build it yourself with mud in Colorado.

Read this post at Jetsongreen.com
The point is stated a bit clearer.

Catching Up

Since I've about 1,000 headlines to read on my bloglines and many are old news I missed while I was away, I'll just link to some things that I want to keep handy.

Japan is the the most energy efficient developed country in the world...
The Land of Rising Conservation -NYTimes.com "Japan’s obsession with conservation stems from an acute sense of insecurity in a resource-poor nation that imports most its energy from the volatile Middle East, a fact driven home here by the 1970s shocks. The guiding hand of government has also played a role, forcing households and companies to conserve by raising the cost of gasoline and electricity far above global levels. Taxes and price controls make a gallon of gasoline in Japan currently cost about $5.20, twice America’s more market-based prices.

The government in turn has used these tax revenues to help Japan seize the lead in renewable energies like solar power, and more recently home fuel cells. One way has been a subsidy of about $51,000 for each home fuel cell. This allowed Mr. Kimura to buy his cell last year for about $9,000, far below production cost. His cell, which generates one kilowatt-hour of energy per hour, provides just under half of his household’s electricity, and has cut his electricity bill by the same amount, he said."

California offers money for going Solar.
Plugging into the Sun -NYTimes.com

A kit home for 12 and up. Build green on a small scale.
Thames & Kosmos Power House via Hugg

Tax credits for Energy-Efficient Homes via treehugger

The future of 3D do it yourself design

The 3D online design world gets more and more interesting and more and more cohesive. Our house design was put into Google's SketchUp which allows us to move around and through the design. We can also watch the sun rise and set and see how the light plays through the house at anytime of the day or any time of the year. This a great tool to check the passive solar design with actual sunlight. For more details, I've been playing with Ikea kitchen planner to get ideas for how some specifics will look in our kitchen. Now Whirlpool has its appliances on Google's 3D warehouse almost ready made to slot into SketchUped, Ikea planned kitchens everywhere. Visit a new site to me, Ogleearth.com with all the details.

via archinect.com