Powered by the Sun

Expressing interest to the architect last week that we wish to be 100% fossil fuel independent, it is our goal to look at viable alternitives to operate the home day in and day out. Solar energy is one option we are looking heavily into at the moment. The home site is locate on a ridge line, where terrain drops off steepily to the south. This is a natural place to situate the home for the terrific views to the south, but also the uninterrupted southern exposure for solar gain year-round. We had the opportunity to set up a meeting with Lee Tavenner of Solar Plexus out of Missoula, MT (http://www.solarplexus1.com/) this past weekend. Lee took the opportunity to get a feel for the home site, how the house would be oriented on the site, and what the options were for viable solar array installation either on the home itself or off to the side.

Lee was able to paint a clearer picutre of our solar gain probability by utilizing a Solar Pathfinder (http://www.solarpathfinder.com/) to determine the annual solar hours we could expect at our site. This instrument clearly pictures the surrounding features (mountains, trees, and other potential sun blocks) on a circular face depicting expected sun hours on a monthly basis hour by hour.

Once we are closer to finalizing the actual electrical load of the home, then Lee can better indicate the solar array package necessary to capture 25%, 50%, or 100% of our needs. In the mean time, we will keep Lee advised of our design process and continue to research options for mounting these solar panels. On the roof, on a ground rack, pole, or via actual trackers that follow the sun's path (shown below), these are all options that we need to consider.

Along with the idea of solar energy, we are also taking a close look at wind options, not too mention renewable green energy offered through North Western Energy. It is our belief that a well designed combiantion of several options will enable us to see our goal of fossil fuel independency come true.

Stay tuned as we continue to brain storm, design, and ultimately finalize our project over the coming months.

Good Health and an Abundant Tomorrow to All!

Tim Southwell

Reshuffling the Program

A meeting with the architect, Don Briggs, last week proved that we are still fine tuning how we define our 'dream home'. Continued exposure to design publications and actual walk-throughs of log homes has continued to morph what is it we would like to see in our home once completed. As a result, we resubmitted a program to Briggs Architecture & Design on Oct 12th. The main change in our design goals focused around the living and entertainment areas. Our property sports some fantastic 360 degree views of the Bitterroot Mountains, Tin Cup Drainage and the Bitterroot Valley floor; so why not center on these? Hence, we moved the entertainment area (orignally in the basement)and incorporated it into the observation deck. We are now working towards November 1st for initial design sketches of the home. For the readers' review, the reworked program is as follows:

Type / Look / Feel:
- Three-story with basement
- Passive / Active Solar Design (passive heating and cooling design)
- Cultured Log System Construction
- Sustainable Design
- ‘Grid-tied Solar Array system with backup battery system’
- Energy Efficient Details (Design and Materials)
- Green Building (environmentally friendly building materials)
- Healthy Home (minimize / eliminate indoor toxins – VOC’s)
- Geothermal heating / cooling; heated exterior walks
- Rainwater catchments system / Greywater system
- Cutting edge appliances and technology
- High quality inside and out

Floor Detail:
Ground Floor
Attached three-car garage
Utility / Mud room
Kitchen, Large(spacious with two islands & pantry)
Entertainment / Great Room with Dining
Note: We see kitchen area transcending into the Great Room; perhaps divided by a small sitting area. Dining room located off to side?
Grand Fire Place or Wood stove in / around great room
Entry Foyer
Coat closet
Library / Study / Office (off G-room via wing)
¾ Bath as well as ½ Bath
Elevator
Exterior Decking


Second Floor
Master Bedroom
i. Spacious bedroom, bathroom, and closet(s)
ii. Exterior deck?
Bedrooms #2, #3, & #4
i. Spacious for bed, desk, shelves
ii. Each have independent Full Bath and closet
Recreation Room
i. Open for toys / electronics / puzzles
Elevator


Basement
Mechanical room
Cold storage / wine room
Theatre Room (?)
Guest bedroom w/ exterior walk-out
Guest bedroom (bunks?) w/ exterior walk-out
i. Both Share Full Bath
storage space
Elevator
Possible
exercise room
sauna
dark room / workspace for Sarah’s photos

Observation Deck (3rd floor)
360 views of property and valley
Mini-bar with stools (sink / fridge)
Seating area
Fireplace centered in room
Television viewing / movie watching?
Pool Table / Video Arcade Machine(s)
Skylight for telescope set-up
Exterior decks
Elevator

Outside Entertainment Deck
Built-in Barbeque with fridge & sink
Fire element (pizza oven?)
Ample seating
Jacuzzi?

Progress; Day by Day

The past few weeks has seen continued infrastructure implementation on the property, as we work towards the official ground breaking next spring. Our property manager, Jim Albrecht, has been busy tying together electrical, phone, and well development / installation, as well as overseeing the completion of perimeter fencing along the burned property lines.

Logging efforts were thwarted this fall on our 50 acres of burned timber. Increased timber supply in the market, poor accessibility due to terrain, and little interest in burned timber overall, made contracting a logging outfit most difficult. We are still optimistic about implementing some future operation, but at present it looks like early next year before we see any activity. In an effort to work with the effected area, Jim Albrecht has been busy sawing small diameter logs to work as run-off / erosion control on the steep slopes. He was also working alongside Joe Richard of R&R Fencing (406-369-4155) to recycle the burned timber for use on re-fencing the effected property line. Joe Richard used a large amount of burned timber to reconstruct the 'Block and Log' portion of the fence line (about 1/4 mile in total).

Our property has a beautiful spring which puts out about 1 gallon of water per minute. It is a wildlife attractant and we have no plans to disrupt this natural flow. As we need a water source for the home and are not able to hook up to the local municipality, we contracted the services of Jerome's Drilling (www.jeromesdrilling.com/index.htm). With the help of Randy, Brian and their crew, we were able to drill and install two wells for our use. A 6 gpm well which will be used for the home and immediate grounds, and a 2 gpm well on another part of the property for dedicated use for a future orchard.

This week we will see the conclusion of the utility install on the property. A combination of North Western Energy (www.northwesternenergy.com/) and Qwest Telephone (www.qwest.com/default.html) lines have been run underground along the road from the nearest neighbor to our home site. Both services will be in use once we have situated a construction office at the project site next year. We are excited to report that NW Energy has a Green Power program that will allow us to power the property completely with renewable energy and strip ourselves of the dependency of fossil fuels in this regard. North Western Energy's 'E+ Green' program (http://www.northwesternenergy.com/display.aspx?Page=Green_Power_Intro&Item=91) allows users to pay an additional $2 per month for an equivalent of 100kw hrs produced by a renewable energy source. For a few dollars each month, one can completely offset their power usage with clean burning renewable energy!!

Further infrastructure requirements center around the septic tank / field installation as well as the well-water lines design / installation; All of which will take part later in the year and into 2008.

On the topic of the home, we are busy working with Briggs Architecture to develop the design, register the project for LEED certification, and building our project team to lead us into the New Year. Stay tuned for this developments.

Wishing you Good Health and an Abundant Tomorrow.

Tim Southwell