First World Problems

Brushing a bunch of snow (almost 10 cm!!!) on our steeply angles solar modules is definitely a First World problem.  Over the last few days, we did get a good dump of snow!  So, as it looked hopeful today for some sun, I spend 20 mins brushing off the snow so we could generate a few Watts...

 Hopefully, the sun will melt the rest of the snow/ice.

So glad I made the solar modules accessible

from our roof deck!

Come on, Sun!  Burn off the morning fog!

This was the temperature at 8:30am on Nov. 10th, 2012.

And this was the indoor temperature: a balmy 16 degrees C.

On days like this, we're hoping for the sun to come out and warm house!

Pavers! But not quite done...

Man, this summer sure didn't work out to get our landscaping in. Between the rain, work and, well, the honest desire to do other things, we have not been quite as productive as we'd have liked.

So, a small celebrations occurs with every little bit of work done.

This week, we finally have installed permanent pavers to the basement suite door!  Yay!
So our tenant will not have to "walk the plank" with the danger of falling in mud every time it rains...

Now, only if we weren't 2 pavers short of getting it all done.  Sigh.

Scott McKeen comes to visit. Then writes about it.

Shortly after the July Doors Open weekend, we had a visit by Scott McKeen. He came on a mission to learn and then write about what our house is all about.  Serena was kinda' disappointed that the photographer didn't make an effort to make small things in the photos look right.  And the fact he opened up the pantry to reveal what we eat. Apparently, that should be secret.


Here's his story:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/house+beautiful+upside+down+energy+efficient+home+self+designed/6976322/story.html

Concrete sidewalks! Finally!

Yay! A mud free way to get to the front door!

After months of hoping, planning and calling people, and almost doing it ourselves, we finally have concrete a sidewalk and pads at our doors.  Our friends a Pinnacle Soils ended up doing this work- and looks good.

They even found a piece of petrified wood as they were moving around dirt on site.

Now, hopefully we'll get some black dirt and start on our perimeter "raised bed" fence!

And a pad at the basement door. I'm hoping to find a creative

way to connect this to the main sidewalk. Pavers? Logs? Perhaps

even ancarbonized wood boardwalk?

We will connect the back door with pavers. Or something.

While moving dirt around the house, our site work crew found a beautiful
piece of petrified wood.

Doors Open! & Rainbows, too.

Ok, here's you last chance to just wander into our house without a personal invite!

We're on the Doors Open Edmonton tour this Sunday, July 8th~ so you can visit us from 1pm to 4pm.

Here are the details:

http://www.historicedmonton.ca/what-we-do/historic-festival/schedule/

I'm part of 2 events:  Search for "Speakers Studio" where I will be talking about our house construction process and our open house is listed as "Beverly Heights Net-zero-ready House"

And after that, I think we'll take a breather from the public realm.  And perhaps finish our landscape and fencing work. And sidewalks.




And here are some rainbows and dramatic skies we saw last week:

Happy Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice!

I never tire of the view of the sun shining of the refinery as it sets. One day, fossil
fuel will see it's last sunrise.

The sun is extremely important to a passive-solar house. In fact, it makes my day when it shines, as we also contribute to the microgeneration of green power!  So, with the greatest amount of daylight today, we were keen to celebrate every Watt of power we make.

And here's the update from our Eco-Solar home tour!

We had 148 official visitors from 11:30am to 4:00 pm.  And we welcomed Monica & Paul from the Enmax PV House over. So, it was great to meet new friends and share the chasing netzero story.

The other neat part was when the gang from Fire Station #7 came by in their trucks! They were very keen to see how the PV connected, what would stay "live" and how to disconnect the system.  They asked lots of questions that Clifton from Great Canadian Solar and I answered. 

The Guys from Fire Station #7 visited us on the EcoSolar open house day!

Finally, we had a visit by Ruby and Hans- our neighbours from the plateau below our house. Ruby totally impressed Serena with her awesome yellow hair.  Ruby's a hair stylist, so it was on purpose, if you're wondering. Anyhow, Ruby is turning 90 this month- and it was amazing to see her go up and down the stairs and chat with us about our place. Happy Birthday Ruby!

So, now we will prepare for one more summer event: Door Open Edmonton!  So, if you want to drop by, here's your chance: http://www.historicedmonton.ca/

I'll be giving a talk on our house on Saturday, July 7th, and our house will be "open" for viewing on Sunday, July 8th.

Summer is off to a great start!

EcoSolar Tour 2012

In June, as part of Environment Week, ChasingNetZero will be on the 2012 edition of the Eco Solar Home Tour!

We're site #2- and glad to help showcase a passive solar house with an active PV system!

You can find more info on the Eco Solar Home Tour by clicking here.

Hopefully it's a sunny day.

and Serena & I seem to be Pinterest addicts.  You can find some our house photos and other inspiration by clicking here.