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When Chris Anderson, COO of Borrego Solar, moved across the country in 2007 to open Borrego Solar East, he needed a place to live and he chose Peterborough, NH. Anderson decided to build his own, entirely off-grid, home. The house is powered completely by solar photovoltaics, a solar thermal system, a wood pellet boiler and a few other unique features. Anderson says the home blends the traditional colonial style of New England with the modern style of the San Francisco Bay area. The 3000 square foot home home took more than two years and approximately $510,000 to complete from start to finish and involved everything from getting a conservation easement put on the land to powering a construction site without grid electricity.
Solar PV: A 6.75 kilowatt roof mounted Borrego Solar system with an estimated monthly production of 550 kilowatt hours. The system uses 27 Sharp 160 modules, 15 Sharp 162 modules with a 45 degree pitch and one SMA SB7000 Inverter. The systems also contains two SMA 4248 Sunny Islands and 24 Rolls Surrette S460 batteries.
Heating Systems: Seven Heliodyne flat-plate collectors using glycol. One 800 gallon and one 1200 gallon storage tank from HS Tarm. One Harman PB105 113k BTUh wood pellet boiler using wood pellets from New England Wood Pellet. Heat systems were designed by Henry Spindler from Optimal Energy Solutions LLC.
Other Features: A hot water recirculation loop, radiant floors, thermal glazed windows, thermostat controls for each zone of the home and energy efficient appliances.
To see a video interview with Chris Anderson and to get a look at his one-of-a-kind off-grid home, click here.
This is a good thing, But I can offer you a free solar system installed on you property and our company powers the electric meter backwards and bills the electric provider. The Home owner gets free electric under a 25 year contract.
The only cost is we ask for a $ 500.00 deposit. Most power companies charge that but with this company you get that $ 500.00 back in time.
Email me if you are interested larmelton3@aol.com
Larry
Hello: Note that this off grid home was built for $170 per square foot. Housing in California is more like $250 per foot for typical construction. It's nice to see that being efficient doesn't hove to cost more to build and likely costs less to live in.
The off grid home I built and live in also was less than the norm to build, but did need a lot of design time. A metric I like to describe energy use is: BTU per suqare foot of living space per year --- of imported or fossil energy. I get by on 12000 BTU/ft/year.
Now, if Habitat for Humanity started building off grid... !
Yours, Larry
Gunther Beck,
Living in the USA, I never see any single-glazed windows for sale or put into houses. Even in the cheapest houses, the windows are double glazed.
Perhaps the reason it gets mentioned is that many older homes (like mine from the 1950's) still have single glazed windows plus storm windows.
On the other hand, it still seems common to have only 4" of fiberglass insulation in walls. I hope Europe puts in more insulation than that and I hope the USA changes this to 6 or 8" standard.
Thanks
John C. Briggs
I think this is great that a coo can aford a system like this, Now I hope he takes it one step further and makes the system so inexpensive that middle to lower class people can afford it. Salaries are not going up any more in the area of the country that I live, so it has to be inexpensive.
Alternatively, maybe he can get some one to lobby congress for more money for the government to help fund this for lower and middle income people. I'm not asking for a free product, but this technology is something that really could make our lives better.
Bravo every time someone walks the talk.
Chris isn't just in the "green" business to turn a profit, it is a way of life and he put his money where his mouth is. This type of action should simply be applauded as the standard not the exception.
I look forward to seeing more smart building.
I'm certain that as a European you ARE shocked. Any sensible person would be.
Does that imply that Americans are not sensible and Europeans are by default sensible? I'll let that up to others to decide.
I must say though that if one were to visit a country and at every turn observed vehicles traveling down the highway with steady streams of gasoline flowing from holes in the fuel tank,while sporting bumper stickers that proclaimed that we must urgently do something about the price of gasoline,you would correct in assuming that all citizens of this particular country were either mad as hatters or were so uneducated that they barely registered double digit IQ's. From everthing I observe on a daily basis ,concerning energy waste in transportation, heating and cooling of buildings, we are living in an asylum without bars. How sad
Does anyone know, if it's possible to go off-grid in a townhome? Is an average townhome roof size large enough (are any solar systems efficient enough?) to collect enough energy to power the home?
Thanks for any information or pointing me in the direction, where I can find out more.
" I look forward to seeing more smart building."
Since when is 3000 sq ft "smart building"?? A smaller building would mean smaller investments in green energy. Sustainability is not about putting lipstick on pigs. It is about less is more. When will we figure that out?
Todd
P.S. " Is there an economical windmill that can be put on the top of a house?"
Wind generators to not go on house rooftops.
This is simply promotion of his company
Off grid living in the east coast in winter in not reality for most folks
Nice adverstisement disguised as a real project though
3000 sf is fairly small for a COO's house that contains office and art studio as well as living quarters. Americans won't switch to renewable living if they see it as a joyless nuts-and-twigs experience. Neither will they respond well to being forced into hair shirts.
As for wind generators: Google "micro wind generators" and see what's available. Here's some micro wind turbines that can indeed be placed on a rooftop; they won't generate enough to power a typical American home, but they're cheaper than solar panels -- perhaps you could use these to lower your electric bills and use the savings to eventually get solar panels as well: http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/21/micro-wind-turbines-small-size-big-impact/
Mr. Weingarten,
Funny you should mention 'off grid' and Habitat For Humanity.
http://www.sustainablehomemag.com/CDA/Archives/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000097390
Granted, it's not totally off the grid, but it's moving toward the edge!
There's been other efforts by HFH, but the main idea was to keep utility costs down for the homeowners. Such efforts are worth our support.
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