We have an extensive board that is very diverse for YouthBuild and one of the people on that board is the Executive Director for Eco-House here in Kerrville. This is a company that does pre-fab homes, build with screws and beams, in a warehouse, then taken to the home site and set up. They are "Green Friendly" and due to how they are designed, MUCH more Eco-friendly and efficient than standard framed houses.
The Director was able to get our youth a tour of one of these homes that is set out in the hills around our area, but is really remote. The idea of the owner of these houses was to be COMPLETELY self sufficient and NOT relying on any outside governing agency to rely on for the needs to operate these homes....ie... electricity, water, sewer, etc....
As a result, the owner bought a few hundred acres and set the houses and the very back of the property. Needless to say, the place is stunning...Breathtaking... peaceful and serene... A piece of property every Hill Country lover would LOVE to own!
The homes are COMPLETELY OFF the grid... They rely on nothing!!
These homes (reportedly by the director of eco-house) have the largest private, residential solar system in the United States. They have ceiling fans in the house that run off of 2amps and have magnets inside of them that create the reverse polarity and make them turn on little to no energy. The lighting is done with LED lights and each bulb is 4 watts but puts off enough light to mirror a standard 60 watt bulb.
The walls are reinforced and insulated to minimize the need for cooling or heating. The cooling/heating system installed uses water from the tanks/ponds on the property and is very intricate on how it works...Basically, it sucks the cool water from the bottom of the ponds in the summer to circulate, and then the water is warmer on the bottom in the winter so its used to heat the homes...Its pretty amazing!!
There is a rain catch system on the house that is designed to catch all the water possible and can catch 3500 gallons from one inch of rain. The water is used for drinking, cleaning, and all other purposes for the home and living. The VERY cool thing is that rain water is very "soft" and doesn't have all of the chemicals well water does so it takes less to clean and is much better for you personally as well as for the pipes and hard water problems associated with well water.
There are 192 solar panels that generate the electricity for the homes... Each panel runs independently through various types of wiring and as it was explained, if they were to "plug into" the system, they create enough energy to sell BACK to the electric company...However, as they explained, the companies don't make that easy because to stay plugged in, you must meet certain Federal regulations that change every year in regards to how it is plugged in, so they have chosen to just lose that extra energy.
The houses alone are 250k each....1800 sq feet. The solar panels are about 1k each without all of the wiring OR the racks to hold them.... The solar system ALONE with all of the wiring, etc... is comparable, or more than the amount of the houses.
The rain catch and filtration/cleansing system is another VERY costly expense...It was also stated that if EVERY resource was to just "dry up" all of a sudden, they could self sustain the homes for 7 months! Needless to say, this is NOT a cost effective way to live....
I find that odd, don't you??? That its more expensive to live off of the governing agencies than it is to live on them?? Things that make ya go..........HHHHHMMMMMMMM?????!!!
As I understand it, the owner of the homes is a very wealthy older woman who is very "anti-establishment" and has chosen to just UNPLUG from the MAN...
She isn't a glamorous woman, who sports huge cars or fine jewelry...As a matter of fact, if you saw her walking down the street, you would think she should be holding a sign and a change jar.... Amazing how people make up others based on simple appearances.
As it was explained to me, our group would be the last one permitted access to the houses or the property as they were almost complete. It was explained that once they are done, the gates will be locked, 7 dogs will be cut loose and NO ONE will be allowed on that property other than the owner and her guests....What an extreme honor it was to be able to see this....What a dedicated woman she must be to make a decision such as this...And man, what a dream it would be to be totally comfortable being completely self reliant!
I hope you enjoy the pics....It was a GREAT day!
OWTFDWIT!!!!! GO YOUTHBUILD!!!!!!
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