This is an inspiration to those who want to live off-grid. This eco house offered by Sotheby’s is allegedly one of the best sustainable houses in Hunterdon County. It is old for an eco house – built in 1990 as an experiment to demonstrate solar energy design. With a 32-piece PV solar panel it is almost off-grid. The solar panel is capable of 1.4 kW in total. The house is facing south and there are no trees in front. This is what is called a direct-gain passive solar design.
The walls and the ceiling are well insulated. Catalytic propane-fired unvented infra-red heaters. There is no septic tank, it comes with a compost toilet. Five acres of land with water features make it a nice place to start a huge garden or keep some animals. This is a very reasonably priced home at just $349,000.
This eco house has a very unusual layout. There is a large gallery-type open space with some rooms niched away and other rooms more private, hidden at the back of the house. I am not particularly bowled over by the double-height ceiling (waste of space, waste of space!) but I guess in this case, as it provides such a nice lighting feature, it is OK.
So you see, it was possible to live on solar energy even 20 years ago. Why has it taken us so long to realize the potential?
Take a look here.
