Sustainable Out-Building for the "Honey Hill Project"

Here is the preliminary design for the "Honey Hill Project's" out-building. This out-building will be Passive Solar designed and have Photovoltaic, Rain Barrels for capturing the roof's rain water for the owners garden. Alot of the materials for this out building will be re-cycled and re-used material found from local sources. This building will serve as a storage building, workshop and electrical source for the builder during the construction of their LEED for Homes certified, Passive Solar, Prairie Style home being built on the same site. We (Image Design, LLC) are currently working on the design of this home. The home will be a showcase of the last and most innovative green/sustainable technologies in one affordably built home that the area has ever seen.

The national award winning Team Hybrid (Hybrid Homes, LLC & Image Design, LLC) have teamed up with the homeowner of this project to create a affordable LEED certified home that will educate the public about how Green/Sustainable homes can be Affordable, Attractive and Energy Efficient. Please check back often to see the progress of this remarkable home as it is being designed and built. We are all excited to share this journey with you all.
(You can double click on the picture to your right to enlarge it)

Further research and more visits to Adam's other "children"/houses

Since our last entry we have talked with John Wakeman of SUR Energy.  He was very helpful in furthering our research regarding renewable energy and we will keep him in mind as we make decisions about our renewable energy options.  We also visited two more of builder Adam's "children" (aka the houses that he is building).  Once again we are impressed and excited  by the quality of his work and with his passion.  We got many great ideas and are even more sure of the basic design of the home that we hope to start building this summer.  We hope that Adam will be able to take a break from his current projects and visit us soon.  We also hope that it works out that building our home can be coordinated with another home that Eric is designing in our region.  We will keep our fingers crossed, and our research of building supplies and materials and renewable energy options will move forward.

Seeing a local Skystream Turbine in Action

Mary, Whitney, Laura, and I visited the home of J(Jiten) Mehta, an Environmental Engineer, and License Residential Builder, who installed a Skystream wind turbine at his home. He lives about 10 minutes from us, and has had great results. He works for CASE Handyman & Remodeling, and has worked in many arenas both as an engineer and as a builder. He has a wealth of technical expertise and has worked with local governments and the energy companies regarding installation of both wind and solar. We got several new ideas and another wind turbine option, The Windspire that is made by Mariah Power. It was a very interesting visit; about 10 years ago, Jiten worked closely with Mary's current boss as an environmental engineer. His subcontractor work and contacts could be a great addition to our team.

Sustainable Energy Proposal and much more!

We received the Sustainable Energy Proposal from Jen Rolston from BAUER POWER. Solar Thermal panels and PV panels are definite (the number of panels to start with needs to be evaluated; a wind turbine needs further evaluation, since wind tends to be fair to below average in southeastern Michigan.  We are considering renting or buying an anemometer to measure the wind for an extended period of time.  When we met with Bob Brown, he was optimistic about our site for both Wind and Sun and we got some great ideas from him.  We sent him our current monthly energy use in our current home. (Our annual electricity usage is about 5000-6000 KWH, which does not include our natural gas furnace and hot water heat)  He is recommending 2.4K wind system on a 60-foot tall mono pole, and a 3K photovoltaic solar system.  The estimated combined annual electricity output would be about 7000-8000 KWH.  He sent us specs on the two wind turbines that he is recommending along with specs on his other recommendations.

 Our neighbor right across the road (see more on him below) is an excavator that has lived there for a long time and says that we have the second highest site in Washtenaw County.  The highest site is U of M's Peach Mountain Observatory, just a couple miles up the road from where we currently live; we could also get wind data from them.  He also said that the topography there tends to create a wind tunnel effect.

 ONE OF THE BEST IDEAS FROM BAUER THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO PURSUE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:  We would like to have Adam build a barn/shed that is multipurpose; it would be used to install solar panels prior to building the house so that we can use the electricity generated for building the house; it would also provide a site where items can be locked up during the building process.  It would be located between the house site and the garden site. 

We also have some work in our current home that we would like to hire Adam/his crew to do to get it ready for new homeowners or renters. 

Our new next-door neighbor to the north (works for Recycle Ann Arbor, and was a builder and excavator when she was younger) is still offering Adam a place to stay when he comes down, and possibly a place for others to stay as well.  WE TOO ARE OFFERING OUR HOUSE FOR THIS PURPOSE. 

We also met with LOTUS LANDSCAPING (Ann Arbor) several times regarding a master plan and we are very comfortable with working with them.  They will create a master plan once we have an exact siting of the house and barn/shed.   

Coincidentally, Lotus actually tried to buy our building site for their business a year prior to us buying it.  The neighbors did not want a business there and blocked the purchase; lucky for us!  They still have a good relationship with the neighbors including the excavator neighbor who came over and met with us when Lotus met us at the site.  The excavator neighbor has a good relationship with Lotus, and he has a good relationship with many contractors in the area. He is ready to bring in the crushed concrete for the driveway and the open shed when we give him the go ahead.  We will need to put a culvert in the lowest spot and think ahead about location relative to our plans of having a small pond in that low area.   

ANOTHER INTERESTING COINCIDENCE:  Meeting our excavator neighbor for the first time was very interesting; He is about 15-20 older than I am and grew up in the same very small rural community (Dixboro) just outside of Ann Arbor that I did, and knows many of the same people and families that my parents and I know well.   He is a great guy and has many local connections and is liked and respected by many in the area.  He will be a great help with our project and none of his equipment will need to be trucked in. 

Mary and I went to the Home Building and Improvement Show at the Washtenaw County Farm Council Grounds about a month ago and got lots of good ideas.  We met DOUG SELBY from Meadowlark Builders that do green building in the Ann Arbor area.  I think he knows (or knows of) Eric and/or Adam.  He was very enthusiastic and supportive of what we were doing. 

We have contacted my brother-in-law (Certified Arborist, wood-worker, in VA) and we hope to get down to VA this summer to work with him to cut plenty of trim and buy the custom made trim from him. 

We have purchased 110 evergreen seedlings (4 varieties) from the Washtenaw County Soil Conservation District and planted them on our "Recycle Ann Arbor neighbor's"property. We mulched them and she will water and protect them from the deer this summer since we have no well yet. 

We need to determine when and where we will put in the well.  I would like to "witch" the well, like we did for the property that I grew up on. 

I have done a small amount of mowing out at the site making a walking trail along the evergreen trees that line the edge of the property, and a small trail that marks the edges of where we placed the stakes for the topo survey, and stakes to mark the approximate house and garden and garden shed locations. (See the photos)

(Left and Below-View facing southeast, mowed rectangle just behind large evergreens, and in front of row of smaller evergreens is the SE corner of property where we plan to put the vegetable gardens and shed.  On the left side of the photo you can faintly see the mowed line that is the area were we did the topo survey inside of which will be the footprint of the house)

(Below-Again facing southeast corner of the property, but pic is taken standing on general site of house footprint)

(Below-View facing east from the road.  Mowed lines running NE and SE show the general NW and SW boundaries inside of which will be the footprint of the house (which may look something like the drawing to the right that I did; the side facing you in the drawing would be facing southeast toward the garden area.  In the very left hand corner of the pic is the highest spot where we hope to put the wind turbine.  It is 17 feet above the lowest spot which is in the pic to the left by the truck)

Two pics below are facing NW, and show the general location where we plan to put the drive which will exit the road behind the existing open shed travel south behind the shed, then cut east along the south edge of the shed which will be just up the hill from the existing shed.  This shed already makes a great place to keep straw and mulch dry!

The two pics below are the front and back of the existing open air shed.  The one on the left facing east and is taken from the road.  The one on the right is facing west and is taken from the highest spot on the property where we hope to put the wind turbine! 

Bauer Power site survey

Bob Brown of Bauer Power http://www.bauerpower.com/visited our property on Thursday, last week. He visually surveyed the site to determine if the site is amenable to wind power and talk about solar. Since we are far inland the wind is not as powerful, however, it could produce around 20-25% of our energy. Solar is a definite. Panels on the side of the home for DHW (domestic how water and heating) and PV on the roof of the home for power.

We talked about first putting up a barn/garden shed with PV near where the home would be so the building would be able to take advantage of them during construction, them moving them to the home.

We are going to be grid-tied. I have read that renewables are more efficient when grid-tied. Losses around 20% occur through battery storage. Not to mention the safety and environmental issues and higher maintenacne that come with batteries.

Site Survey

After finding out that I could buy a nice induction cook top for less than the price of a topo, survey- we decided to do it ourselves. I had surveyed as a summer intern in college and periodically in my early work days, and my dad had all the equipment-so no problem.

Friday March 6th was beautiful-sunny and 60! So we skipped out of work early to survey the area of our property where want are home. It took a lot longer than we anticipated-but it was a family affair. Pete and I measured and set the stakes, the kids painted the stakes, then I surveyed, Pete ran the rod, and the kids painted smiley faces on the barn while we were busy. (They asked if they may paint the barn and we said yes thinking that they would just paint it-they were thinking "decorate":-)

I entered the data in excel and came up with a pretty nice looking 3-D surface plot of the area. Even though it took a while, it feels great to be this involved in the process.

Road Trip

Last weekend we were able to tour two homes designed by Eric (Image Design, LLC) and and built by Adam (Hybrid Homes). First, Adam gave us a tour of the Onekama home. This home is LEED Platinum and has won at least two national awards. The thermostat was set at 60, but it was 63 deg. inside with the shades drawn-and it was still morning with temperatures in the teens! We loved the main living area with the warm sun pouring through the windows. This is (something that we never experience at our current house in the winter-our garage is on the south side).

After lunch we went to Watercress in Pentwater with Adam, Eric, and Christy. This home is projected to be LEED Platimum and has already been featured on the cover of W&C Architect. Finishing work is still going on inside, but what can I say... it was a very cool cottage-inside and out. (I think we just picked out our ceiling fans).

We now are very excited about the possiblities for our new home and enthusiastic about using our home building process and final home to educate the public and promote "green building". We look forward with working with such an enthusiastic and inspiring team on our project.

Making connections

Pete met our one of our future neighbors when dropping off our recycling. She works at the recycle center! In the short time they talked, he found out that she will be a great resource for helping us reduce our impact while building a home. For starters we could get recycled crushed concrete at the recycling center for our driveway, and she told us another neighbor is an excavator.

We are finding many people in the area are interested in what we are trying to do. He called me from the doctors while getting a blood draw to get the name of our blog for the nurse!

More Renewable Energy Tax Incentives

State, as well as the Federal governments are making it more attractive to build and remodel "green". Besides the Federal incentives that were added on in October 2008 to the "Rescue Plan" and the ones in the "Stimulus plan" just singed last week, Michigan has a bill (HB 4004)introduced that will allow taxpayers to claim an income tax credit if they purchase and install a residential renewable energy system at their principal residence or residential rental property. The credit would be equal to 50 percent of the total cost to purchase and install the residential renewable energy system. I hope it passes!

We have an architect

Yesterday, Pete and I met with Eric and Christie Hughes of Image Design, LLC. of Grand Rapids.

After reading his blog and talking to Eric on the phone, and seeing one of his homes during construction, I was pretty sure that he would be the one, but Pete and I wanted to meet our future architect in person and have him see our site before we made a commitment. It was freezing cold and windy, but sunny during the visit, and as a bonus, we also got to meet some of the neighbors.

So now we have an architect (Eric) and interior designer(Christie)! I feel that not only do they have a commitment and passion to sustainable design, but also the knowledge and experience. It was a pleasure to meet them and we look forward to working with them on our new home.