Christmas day finally opened an opportunity to make one more move - the move from our West Virginia creek-side cabin to a green-built solar-powered home on an organic community farm in Germantown, MD.
In the last three-and-a-half years, I've moved myself, my cats and my home office from California to Texas, Texas to Maryland, Maryland to West Virginia, and now from West Virginia back to Maryland. Meanwhile, I also got married and just recently changed careers, leaving a job with a steady paycheck to start my own business with no certainty of any paychecks at all.
So maybe you can understand why I put off this last move, as glorious as it may be, and finally went kicking and screaming five months after receiving the occupancy permit! OK, so everything in its own time, and thanks to my husband for his patience. He and I and our 2 cats are finally at home, together again, enjoying every aspect of our high-tech green living.
The house was designed and built by the 2005 University of Maryland Solar Decathlon team as their 2005 entry into the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon contest. And it is built for competition! With 51 photovoltaic solar panels, battery back-up and grid tied, we've been online since July 2008 and as of the winter solstice, we're still net positive (i.e. we've generated more electricity than we've used).
The solar water heater sports 68 evacuated heat transfer solar water heating tubes, providing heat for domestic hot water as well as radiant floor heating. The cats will love this once they figure it out. They become little insulators when they lie on the floor. (They just don't know that cats lie on floors!) Clear story windows provide passive solar heating and lighting as well. Even with 30-degree temperatures outside and our indoor thermostat set at 68 degrees, mid-day indoor temps got up to 73 degrees this weekend, and we didn't need to turn on any indoor lights.
Floors, cabinets, shelves and the bedroom closet are all made of bamboo. Cutting boards, kitchen utensils and bed sheets, too. Kitchen and bathroom counter tops are made of concrete with fly ash, a waste product of garbage incineration typically stored indefinitely in landfills. The bathroom floor, shower, and both bathroom and kitchen backsplashes are made of recycled glass tile.
Appliances are all energy star rated, the highest in energy efficiency way back in 2005! And they even included a built-in surround sound system with in-wall DVD player. It was built by students!
With all of that ingenuity, the care to be as green as possible with every detail, the greatest effort of green-building that this team of students performed in this competition was not even part of the competition at all. On their own, they went above and beyond the rules of the competition to ensure that the materials, education and efforts that went into this house would not be scrapped once the competition ended. They put in countless hours to find a worthy home for their house, and they continued to be involved all the way through the award of the occupancy permit almost 3 years later (another story for another time).
The home now resides on Montgomery County park land currently rented by Red Wiggler Community Farm under a public-private partnership. Red Wiggler is a non-profit organic farm providing job training and employment for adults with developmental disabilities who grow and sell vegetables through a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, provide service learning and volunteer opportunities, all through the lens of environmental stewardship.
My husband, Woody Woodroof, is the founder and executive director of Red Wiggler. The home provides work-force housing for the farm so that the farm can soon become home for farm animals and help to extend the programs from 9 months of the year to 12 months. Now Red Wiggler is able to provide learning opportunities on alternative energy and green living as well.
We are especially grateful to the UMD Solar Team for their efforts. The home can be toured several times per year, including the annual Montgomery County Farm Tour in July of each year and the annual Montgomery County Solar Home Tour offered each year in October. I'll be posting some pictures of the home tomorrow if I can get them off of Woody's camera. You can see more photos and get more info at http://www.redwiggler.org/solar_house or at the solar team's site at http://solarhouse.umd.edu.
Also check out Red Wiggler's group page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41049378751.
Have a happy green day!
Debra
