Paso Robles house
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| Revision as of 14:19, 6 September 2008 (edit) Brian Peppers! (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision (03:21, 28 September 2009) (edit) (undo) Mwbrown42 (Talk | contribs) (→External links) |
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| [[Image:PasoSolarPanels4.JPG|thumb|right]] | [[Image:PasoSolarPanels4.JPG|thumb|right]] | ||
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| <big>'''Summary of house features''' | <big>'''Summary of house features''' | ||
| - | * Solar panels, grid interactive. 25 Sanyo 200W panels, 5kW | + | <ul> |
| + | <li>Solar panels, grid interactive. 25 Sanyo 200W panels, 5kW | ||
| + | <li>Xeriscape landscape replaced front grass | ||
| + | </ul> | ||
| </big> | </big> | ||
| <br/> | <br/> | ||
| Line 41: | Line 35: | ||
| Other green living factors we are doing in our lives: | Other green living factors we are doing in our lives: | ||
| <ul> | <ul> | ||
| - | <li>My wife is retired and I work from home for IBM, so we have no daily commute, saving on buying gas, wasting time, clogging roads and emitting greenhouse gases | + | <li>I hired a landscaper in September 2009 to replace my front grass with a xeriscape landscape, using native low-water plants and trees |
| <li>We use soybean-derived B-99 biodiesel fuel in my wife's VW turbo-diesel Beetle, getting 49 miles per gallon on the highway | <li>We use soybean-derived B-99 biodiesel fuel in my wife's VW turbo-diesel Beetle, getting 49 miles per gallon on the highway | ||
| <li>We only use compact fluorescent light bulbs, including outdoor spotlights | <li>We only use compact fluorescent light bulbs, including outdoor spotlights | ||
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| * [http://www.mike-land.com/Solar_Power/solar_power.html Solar power thinking and data display program] | * [http://www.mike-land.com/Solar_Power/solar_power.html Solar power thinking and data display program] | ||
| * [http://www.mike-land.com/Solar_Power/Solar_Installation/solar_installation.html Solar power installation details] | * [http://www.mike-land.com/Solar_Power/Solar_Installation/solar_installation.html Solar power installation details] | ||
| + | * [http://www.mike-land.com/No_Lawn/no_lawn.html Xeriscape landscaping project] | ||
| [[Category:California]] | [[Category:California]] | ||
Current revision
| Owners | Michael Brown |
| Location | Paso Robles, Califonia |
| Country | United States |
| Type | Sustainable renovation project |
| Owner Web Site | www.mike-land.com |
| Owner contact | Mike Brown mwbrown42@gmail.com |
Summary of house features
- Solar panels, grid interactive. 25 Sanyo 200W panels, 5kW
- Xeriscape landscape replaced front grass
[edit] Updates
We bought this 1670 sq ft, single-story house in June 2007 in Paso Robles California, in the heart of the Central Coast wine region. One of the first projects I wanted to complete was the installation of a solar photovoltaic system. You can read more about my thinking about solar power at the first link below. I wrote a program to display the real-time and historic power generation data - go to the first link and click on the big screen shot to launch it.
Since my house roofline runs North-South, we had to go with a ground-mount system. Luckily we had enough room on our 2 acre lot to find the perfect spot. I did the prep work in July 2007, and the system installation was done September 17-26, 2007. After months of planning and a week of installation, we powered up the solar system and my electric meter immediately started running backwards.
Other green living factors we are doing in our lives:
- I hired a landscaper in September 2009 to replace my front grass with a xeriscape landscape, using native low-water plants and trees
- We use soybean-derived B-99 biodiesel fuel in my wife's VW turbo-diesel Beetle, getting 49 miles per gallon on the highway
- We only use compact fluorescent light bulbs, including outdoor spotlights
- We use an Energy-Star refrigerator and washing machine
- I installed a tankless electric water heater to remove my dependence from propane and avoid replacing a rusted-out tank every 6-8 years
- We have ceiling fans in every room
- The house has excellent wall and attic insulation and has a West-facing overhang, blocking hot afternoon sun
- Recycling is excellent here. I take all paper, cardboard, plastics and metal to our local recycling center. Drink bottles and cans are recycled and deposit paid back.
- I declined to get garbage service because we recycle so much. I take the non-recycleables to the landfill once a year or so.
- I rebuilt the wood burning fireplace venting to bring it up to code and make it safe. I use about 15 pieces of fallen tree wood to heat the house all winter, avoiding use of the existing propane heat system.
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