Solar

Burlington Microhome

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Moonlight in Vermont? Sunlight might be better for this tiny solar powered home built by Alex Carver and Christopher North of Northern Timbers in Vermont. The Burlington Microhome is a 100 square-foot modular house that is off-grid and ready for additional modules to be added to it if needed.

Northern Timbers built the microhome with design help from landscape architect and metal artist H. Keith Wagner.

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Much of Northern Timbers’ work reinterprets the traditional Vermont vernacular by introducing new applications of diverse materials into the residential setting, resulting in homes with a practical yet creative aesthetic.

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Solar Decathlon 2009

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Craig one of our readers had the opportunity to go to the Solar Decathlon in Washington DC. and wanted to fill us in on this exciting event. Here is what Craig has to say about it.

Sorry to take so long to get back to you on the Solar Decathlon houses on the mall in DC.

I’d taken pictures, but they didn’t turn out so great what with all the crowds. As it happens, the solar decathlon webpage has some great videos for each house on the front page that do a far better job of showing off the houses than I could.

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Team Germany was just announced the winner, though my favorite was Team Louisiana’s Beausoleil house. They plan on marketing the houses as modular homes in the next couple of years with a price around $120,000 including the solar panels.

The maximum size limit for the houses was 800 square feet and they all had to be off the grid/independent.

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Mikes Solar Hot Water Heater

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The other day I showed you Mike’s Micro House which he has been building for under $3,000. Mike is also quite an inventor and is interested in solar and wind energy. He has created a simple hot water heater that I think would be useful for a tiny house or … Read more

Off Grid Solar Cavco Park Model

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I have been communicating with Tim Gage, vice president of Cavco’s Specialty Division about the company’s new off-grid solar park model home. Tim has shared with me the following information from his press release regarding this new home. The solar home has a $47,000 starting price, and this home shown … Read more