Energy Efficiency

LED LIGHTING vs. INDUCTION LIGHTING
Mercury Use in ADG ECO Induction Lamps Does NOT Pose a Threat to the Environment

Written By: Travis Abeyta © 2010
ADG ECO Lighting Products ~ Environmental Scientist & Energy Efficiency Liaison

Introduction

When comparing LED lighting systems to ADG ECO Induction Lighting systems, mercury use is not a sufficient indicator of either technology’s true environmental impact. In reality, lifespan and energy usage, both of which equate to materials consumed, carbon emissions, energy costs, and total cost of ownership, are the best gauges of sustainability. This paper is a review of both technologies. Let’s first explore mercury usage in current lighting technologies.

Mercury Explained

Nearly every kind of modern lighting source depends on the use of mercury inside the lamp for operation. When assessing the true environmental impact of mercury use in lighting, we must take into consideration:

1. The type of mercury (liquid or solid-state) which is present in the lamps
2. The amount of mercury present in a particular type of lamp
3. The lifespan of the lamp which determines the amount of mercury used during operation

Liquid-State Mercury

Liquid-state mercury, which is the most common form of mercury used in HID and fluorescent lighting, represents the greatest environmental hazard. If these types of lights are broken, the liquid mercury can find its way into cracks in concrete, asphalt, or spaces in other floor coverings. This can cause local contamination. Liquid-state mercury is used in such lights as metal halides, mercury vapors, compact fluorescents, and T12, T8, and T5 fluorescents. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that the liquid form of mercury from just one metal halide, T5, T8, or T12 fluorescent can pollute up to 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels.

Solid-State Mercury

A tiny solid-state mercury amalgam is used in ADG ECO Induction Lights. In this form the mercury is compounded with other metals, similar to the amalgam once widely used in dental fillings. It will not release toxic mercury vapor when exposed to room temperature and poses no threat of contamination. To further ensure safety, the amalgam is contained in an internal protective glass arm that keeps it encapsulated in case of accidental lamp breakage. This makes the recovery and recycling of the mercury amalgam an extremely simple, cost effective, and safe process.

Induction Lighting Mercury Consumption

Additionally, ADG ECO Induction Lamps use the least amount of mercury of any mercury-based lamp technology, when considered based on both initial quantity and amount used over the lamp’s life. Remember that induction lamps use solid-state mercury, while the other lamps use the volatile liquid form. The figure below compares the amount of mercury used per 20,000 hours of operation in induction lamps and other lighting technologies. As you can see, induction lamps use the least amount of mercury at only 1.3 micrograms.

Bulb Lifespan

At an unprecedented 100,000 maintenance-free hours, ADG ECO Induction Lights have the longest lifespan of any available commercial/industrial lighting source. Induction outlives the 50,000-hour LED by 40-50%.

Conversion Efficiency or Energy Utilization

One major difference between LED and Induction Lighting technologies lies in their conversion efficiencies. Conversion efficiency, or lumens per watt, is a measurement of the amount of light a lamp produces for a given amount of energy. Most presently available LED Lighting fixtures have conversion efficiencies in the range 65 to 90 Lumens/Watt but are still quite expensive. In contrast, ADG ECO Induction fixtures have conversion efficiencies between 80 and 90 Lumens/Watt and are extremely cost effective.

Lumen Maintenance Curves

Lumen maintenance or lumen depreciation information is published as lumen maintenance curves. They can be used to gauge a lighting system’s lumen output and when lights need to be replaced. The graph below displays lumen maintenance curves for various commercial lighting types. It shows that ADG ECO Induction Lamps only experience a gradual decline in lumen depreciation, which provides for more consistent and predictable illumination over a longer period of time. In contrast, the initial high lumen output of LED lights drops significantly after 20,000 hours and completely plummets at end of life. This greatly reduces the time period to replace aging lights and meet minimum lighting requirements.

Use of Chemicals & Resources

Although LED lights may not use mercury, the manufacturing process of their semiconductors uses highly toxic chemicals such as lead and arsenic. As with any semiconductor device, an LED fixture has to be fabricated before it can be tested to determine if it meets specifications. Due to different variables in the manufacturing process, LED fixtures have a high rejection rate, which results in a fair amount of materials that cannot be recycled and adds to the overall cost of manufacturing. This can cause local contamination of the manufacturing or disposal site. LEDs are also constructed using significant amounts of petroleum-based plastics for circuit boards. Furthermore, LED’s only 50,000-hour lifespan usually requires that two complete LED fixtures be manufactured for every one induction light fixture. The use of LED lights adds to both project costs and the consumption of additional resources, materials, and energy. In contrast, only the ballasts and lamps in ADG ECO Induction Light fixtures need to be removed and replaced rather than forcing the manufacturing of an entirely new fixture.

Maintainability

LED lights have a maintainability issue in that the explosion of unregulated LED manufacturers, both name brand and independents, has unfortunately led to no product standardization for the industry. Currently, LED buyers are left questioning whether the manufacturer will offer matching spare parts when systems begin to fail or will entire systems need to be replaced? Furthermore, the consistency of LED products can vary from batch to batch.
Power Fluctuations & Heat Induced Failure

LEDs are a current driven technology where brightness is proportional to the current applied. If too much current is sent to the device, the sensitive junction on the wire bond will be destroyed and the LED will fail. Furthermore, if an LED’s integrated chip fails before the diode or if it is not constructed with a decent high temperature IC or heat dissipation device, the LED can fail after only 10,000 hours. Worst of all, manufacturers of high output “white” LEDs are hiding a dark secret - crank up the current or experience a power spike and their efficiencies plummet. This is known as droop and it is threatening the future of the LED industry. Droop can be avoided on properties or areas with power fluctuations and surges by purchasing and installing additional soft start circuits. In contrast, ADG ECO Induction Lights are a voltage driven technology where there is no significant effect, visual or measurable, on performance due to power fluctuations. Furthermore, they are constructed with high frequency generators that have built-in pre-conditioners that will maintain a well-stabilized and regulated internal power supply even in voltage fluctuations of +/- 20 volts.

End-of-Life Replacement Costs

When most LED lights reach end-of-life, generally the entire fixture has to be replaced due to the custom heat sinks required for thermal management of the array of LED elements. Contact with the LED’s fixture is necessary for heat dissipation. In contrast, ADG ECO Induction lamps are manufactured with mature glass molding and coating technology and are mounted with screws that attach the inductors to the fixture. This allows them to be easily removed from the interior of the fixture and replaced if damaged or at end-of-life. Instead of purchasing an entire new fixture, you will only need to install a replacement bulb and ballast.

Product Warranty

ADG ECO Lighting Products offers a comprehensive 10-year warranty on product and replacement labor for our lighting technologies compared to LED’s 5-year warranty. To illustrate this point take a look at the table below. Ten years out, the components or fixtures will have been replaced in 113 of the 226 LED lighting systems. Furthermore, 10 years at 12 hours per day of burn time equals 43,800 total hours, which is close to the 50,000-hour lifespan of LED lights. Therefore, approximately 12 years out, all 226 LED fixtures will have been replaced. In contrast, ten years out the property will have replaced zero induction fixtures, components, or lamps and look forward to 12 more years of superior illumination and operational cost savings.

10 Year Warranty & Replacement Cost Analysis
Number of Lights 226 Assumptions
* Annual Failure Rate of 10% for LEDs after 5 Year Warranty Period
* LED Fixtures have Replaceable Components
ADG ECO Warranty 10 Years
LED Warranty 5 Years
Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Totals
ADG ECO $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
LED $5,650 $5,650 $5,650 $5,650 $5,650 $28,250

Manufacturer Accessibility

ADG ECO Lighting Products manufactures their induction lighting fixtures in America, specifically in Chatsworth, California. Not only does this reduce carbon emissions associated with shipping and outsourcing, but it also can contribute additional LEED points to your project and supports the local economy. As a fixture manufacturer, ADG ECO Lighting Products has the distinct advantage of being able to review, design, and present multiple fixture variations rather than simply promoting lighting technologies and products. Solution-based manufacturing allows direct contact between ADG ECO’s factory and designers and property ownership and management.

System ‘Recyclability’

The recycling process for induction lights requires far less energy and raw materials than other lighting technologies, such as LED lighting. With induction lights, the glass arm containing the small mercury amalgam is safely detached and the metal inductors are removed, leaving a glass envelope free of metal or throughput wires. All of these parts are then easily and cheaply recycled. To further simplify this process, ADG ECO Lighting Products offers recycling services for both your old and new lighting systems at a minimal cost.

Investment Opportunities for Other Sustainable Technologies

The greater energy savings, higher efficiency, longer lifespan, lower initial cost, and shorter payback period of ADG ECO Induction Lighting over LED lighting will significantly reduce operating costs. This allows for the cost-effective integration of additional sustainable technologies, such as photovoltaic systems and wind turbines.

Total Cost of Ownership

When considering the replacement of conventional lighting fixtures, one of the best indicators of sustainability and energy efficiency is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). TCO takes into account the cost of initial purchase, the cost of energy to operate the fixture, and the maintenance/replacement costs associated with failure rates and expired product warranty. As shown in the following table, ADG ECO Induction Lighting prevails in every category, proving that it has a lower total cost of ownership and environmental impact. Furthermore, induction lighting will give commercial/industrial properties the tools necessary to lessen the economic impact of the conservative estimation that energy costs are increasing at a rate of 4% per year.

10 Year Total Cost of Ownership Comparison: LED vs. Induction Lighting Fixtures
Product Details 150W LED 150W Induction Notes
Lifespan (Hours) 50,000 100,000
Analysis Period (Years) 10 43,800 Hrs of Operation (12 hrs/day)
Fixture Efficiency (Lumens/Watt) 80 90 From Manufacturer’s Spec Sheets
Initial Fixture Output (Lumens) 12,000 13,500 **See Lumen Depreciation Curve
CRI 64-84 85-90
Per Fixture Power Consumption (W) 168 155 Includes Ballast/Power Supply
Per Fixture Power Consumption (kWh) 0.168 0.155
Total Number of Lights Retrofitted 226
Total Power Used Over 10 Years (kWh) 1,662,998 1,534,314
Total Cost of Power Over 10 Years $199,560 $184,118 **Does not factor in 4% per year escalation in energy costs ** Initial electricity rate of $.12/kWh
Carbon Emissions over 10 Years (Lbs) 1,579,848 1,457,598 Based on 0.95 Lbs/kWh
Cost of Initial Purchase $203,400 $146,900 Tax, Freight & Tax Rebates NOT Included
Maintenance Costs Over 10 Years $28,250 $0 **See Warranty Analysis & Replacement Costs
Product Warranty (Years) 5 10 LED Warranty Exceeded by Analysis Period
Total Cost of Ownership Over 10 Years $431,210 $331,018 TCO Difference of $100,192

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many distinct advantages of ADG ECO Induction Lighting systems over LED lighting systems. It has been shown that mercury use is not a sufficient indicator of induction lighting’s true environmental impact. This report proves that ADG ECO Induction Lighting systems outperform LEDs in: conversion efficiency, lifespan, lumen depreciation, use of chemicals and resources, maintainability, power fluctuations and heat induced failure, end-of-life replacement costs, product warranty, manufacturer accessibility, system ‘recyclability’, investment opportunities for other sustainable technologies, total cost of ownership, ROI, and payback period. All things considered, ADG ECO Induction Lighting systems are undoubtedly the most economic and ecologic lighting choice available for commercial and industrial properties.

Works Consulted

1. Affordable Energy Efficient Solutions. (2009). Induction Lighting Better Than LEDs.
2. Goodman, P., and P. Lumileds. (2009). Avoiding Current Spikes with LEDs.
3. Lighting Design Lab. (2010). Disadvantages of LED Lighting.
4. Roberts, L. Michael. (2010). Magnetic Induction Lights vs. LED Lights. Indulux Technologies Inc.
5. Roberts, L. Michael. (2010). Environmental Aspects of Magnetic Induction Lamps. Indulux Technologies Inc.

Well, what-a-weekend in the off grid prefab house kit that was!

Friday I raced to the prefab modern house, cleaned up, and met with a reporter. Then my family and friends arrived, and honeychile, we trashed the prefab house kit. Saturday we woke up and frantically cleaned up for the Prefab Open House, which was really fun! Thank you all who drove from so far to come visit us in the off grid prefab house kit, STILL with no systems! Then the Prefab Open House was over, and we promptly trashed the house, again. THEN Sunday we woke up and frantically cleaned, again! And a photographer came out. And then we trashed the house! Then I cleaned it again! I. Am. Pooped. It. Was. FUN. : ) We are very grateful to The Ault's Family Farm who not only let us take showers, but sent us back to the prefab passive solar house kit with cartons of gorgeous pullet eggs to give our guests!!! And, why yes, we *did* eat cake! : )

Handsome Husband spoke about the off grid systems we are installing in the net zero passive solar prefab house.

Off Grid Net Zero Systems Talk Part 1 for Prefab House Kit

Off Grid Net Zero Systems Talk Part 2 for Prefab House Kit

As we mentioned, it's not just about a cool modern, energy efficient prefab house. It's about purposely spec'ing for less systems, for off grid, doing more with less. It's the fun treasure hunt to Make Somethin' Outta Nothin' - note as you look at pictures of the prefab, that almost *everything* has been recycled and reused - from the passing-down of my grandmothers bed, to the bookcase found in a thrift store used and already reused within our own family in four different ways before finding its fifth use in the prefab house. A nice woman from Maryland asked me how we got into "green living." (And she is in wildlife management! She should be giving us advice! : ) ) The simple answer is... we grew up with land, feel connected to it, see the cause and effect in how people treat it.  We grew up sailing, so understand the wind and sun and how to use it.  We camp, so appreciate bringing this all together to preserve but also shelter and sustain our family, comfortably. Plus supa coolio modern design is really fun on a shoestring. I like the hunt!

Seriously, it just makes sense. Living carefully, purposely, frugally just. makes. sense. And is tons of fun.

The past two weeks have been overwhelming, hence the silence, and aside from meetings, we haven't anything new to show regarding our own SIPs prefab house kit. [Now, about the *other* prefab house kits being built... (claps hands over mouth) Ahem, more on these later! : ) ]

Instead, we have spent time over the past weekends exploring Richmond's James River, which we never had access to until we bought a vintage Boston Whaler. It's amazing what a little river access can do for a family! We can now hook up the boat and in 15 minutes be at the river, watching bald eagles, blue heron, turtles and fish with our children.

Any-hoo, today, the prefab architect of the net zero house kit casa ti, David Day, came to visit!

Our original plan was to visit an artist's studio he built with structural insulated panels (SIP) but we digressed and instead sat outside watching the children play.... enjoyed the day and company of each other while discussing Woodstock documentaries, green living, and off grid net zero systems.

The Obama Administration has turned into one giant experiement on how to stimulate the economy, while not over-taxing tax payers and not building more debt for future generations. Unfortuneately all three of these approaches tend to contradict each other. Still, in the almighty 'green' sector, investment now can create savings later.

Unlike other stimulus savings plans, such as a loan modification, green saving usually reward people who do not neccessarily need savings. People seeking economicly friendly building materials generally already have their economic budget well planned out, which is why they are finding ways to save moving forward, while improving the health of the environment they live in. That is why green taxbreaks don't cause controversy, while home loan modifcations, which help those who already screwed up, do.

Here are some of the ways the the Obama administration plans on helping green builders in your area through the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" and other bills.

Green Schools - We've come a long way since schools were insulated with asbestos and whatever other cheap materials people could get their hands on. We can expect millions of dollars to be poured into K-12 higher education facilities, with green leanings on the forefront. If we are lucky enough, this will include the food that is served to students, as they are the ones you want to build up in the healthiest manner possible.

Public Housing- The Public Housing Capital Fund will receive billions for improvements, including priority for energy efficiency incentives and projects.

Job Training- Billions will go towards green job training for workers for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors.

Green Federal Buildings- Green effiency requirements will only increase along with green materials. Billions are being directed towards this now.

The Everyday

The savings trickle down to homeowners who have continually paid off their homes on time. By investing in green roofs, indoor insulation and energy efficiency projects, you will save immediately through government give backs and long term on electric bills.

The Numbers

$100 million will go towards advanced buildings research that includes design, integrations and control of both new and old buildings.

$70 million are going to residential buildings which will traing workers and create 'green collar jobs'. This is intended to create a newer more advanced workforce. There are numerous tax breaks and technical assistance programs that will simply make it 'worth it' for home builders.

$72.5 million will go towards expanding Energy Star standards to accelerate energy efficient products and shift Energy Star into new areas.

$50 millions is going to higher efficiency light sources.

I remember during the election John McCain mocked Obama for his energy efficiency tip of filling up the air for your tires. Well, with just a little research, it's obvious he is attempting to do much more than that.

SAN DIEGO - April 17, 2009 - EcoDog, Inc., an innovator in home energy efficiency and monitoring will preview their new FIDO Home Energy Watchdog system at San Diego's Earth Fair in Balboa Park on April 19. Slated for launch this summer, the FIDO system is designed to give homeowners a comprehensive, room-by-room graphic overview of their energy use complete with real-time rate information and personalized saving tips based on individual usage patterns. Typical FIDO users can expect to save 15 to 20 percent on their home electric bills, but the system can also be used to identify 'energy hogs' in the home that may enable significantly greater savings.

The brainchild of the firm's founder, energy entrepreneur Ron Pitt, EcoDog's FIDO Home Energy Watchdog system consists of an easy-to-use software package along with hardware interface modules for the breaker panel and computer. "Until now, homeowners have really been left in the dark about where their electricity is consumed," explained Pitt. "We get bills that show our total use with monthly variations, but we have no way of identifying the most demanding users, malfunctioning appliances or other big contributors to ever-increasing electric bills. Our system allows users to see exactly how their power is consumed on an hourly, daily or monthly basis, and makes plain English recommendations about how to maximize savings."

The staff from the north county firm will be on hand to demonstrate the system's features in Booth #1036 at Earth Fair where they will be offering a $500 product discount for customers who place a refundable deposit this weekend. In addition, visitors who are homeowners and San Diego Gas & Electric customers will be eligible to enter a drawing for a free system.

EcoDog, Inc. is committed to designing, building and making available the tools necessary to easily and affordably take control of energy consumption to reduce homeowner's expenses while lowering demand for electricity.

EcoDog's FIDO Home Energy Watchdog: The hardware/software system provides detailed energy usage information on a room-by-room basis. 

 A Home Is Like A TomatoA home is like a tomato. When seeking one out, you just can’t go for size, you’ve got to go for taste.  There is not much that excites me as the topic of green homes does.  I mean green like quality, endurance, longevity, and functionality. If something does not do its job well, it will not be used for long.  A home that is not comfortable, useful, and affordable is a home in the landfill.  Quite possibly the only topic that could get me going more than the topic of green homes is the topic of America embracing a more thorough definition of what a green home actually is.  For a home with solar panels, geothermal heat, FSC certified wood and no-VOC furniture is not green if it has 8,000 square feet of living space for two people and a dog.  And a cat.  And four children.  It is just too big to be considered green due to the exorbitant rate of consumption of materials during construction and energy throughout its lifespan.

Getting back to me being excited, this is why I flipped over the recent article in Trim Tab, a new quarterly e-magazine that highlights green building trends published by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. The article talks about Sarah Susanka’s book series, from which one of my favorite books comes; The Not So Big House: A Blueprint For the Way We Really Live. If you are interested in these two things, you will thoroughly enjoy this read:

1) how the design of your home effects your health and well-being

2) how the size of your home effects your health, well-being, and wallet

It conceptualizes how “The American Dream Home” has transformed over the last several decades and reveals blunt truths about McMansions, over-sized, empty boxes that are built using cheap materials and are poorly designed. In other words, a large investment that does not give a fraction of the satisfaction or longevity you expect of it and, to top it off, grossly increases your carbon footprint and energy bills. Not So Big gives solutions to many of the obstacles we encounter in the quest for a dream home, like how to get good design on a budget and how to figure out what size home works for you. It also plunges into detail about how subtle design moves are the ones that create the most treasured nuances in a home and how you can achieve them with very little space.

Trim Tab’s article gives so many great pieces of information that make your Green Home IQ sky-rocket. Not only does it steer you towards one of the most useful books regarding home design, it sums up how the issue of wanting ‘too much house’ has become grossly out of control and unnecessary. It gives statistics that show the trend in increasing square footage in single family homes and underlines the need for quality design and materials to create homes that are comfortable and long-lasting and work with our lifestyles without energy-gorging. The idea is to build smaller and smarter. It’s kind of like going with that organic, medium sized farm-stand tomato instead of the colossal, wan, peaked hybrid that was grown using chemical fertilizers and contains one tenth of the vitamins and flavor of the former.

You can find the article here in Trim Tab. It is free.

photo source: http://www.worth1000.com/emailthis.asp?entry=251912

This post was submitted by ThinkDwell. Visit Our Blog.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED as it is commonly called, was established by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to develop a rating system for green building. It is the measure for design, construction and operation of green buildings. LEED advocates sustainability through a whole-building approach in 5 areas of performance in human and environmental health. Those 5 areas are:
• Energy efficiency
• Sustainable site development
• Water savings
• Materials selection
• Quality of indoor environment

The rating system is tailored to each project and coincides with LEED specific programs. A handful of these programs are New Construction, Existing Buildings, Commercial Interiors, Core and Shell, Homes, Neighborhood Development and Schools. The rating system fosters global endorsement of sustainable green building and improvement through the “creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.” The criterion is developed by leaders in their specific industry and ranked in 4 levels of certification; in ascending order those levels are: certified, silver, gold and platinum. These LEED certifications are directly related to the number of credits earned in each of the 5 performance categories listed above. Currently, the LEED standards are applicable to new commercial construction, major renovation, interior projects and existing structure operation. However, standards are being developed to include construction for commercial core and shell, neighborhood development and new homes.

The members of the USGBC recently approved a revision to the LEED rating system that will be effective in March. This update, known as LEED 2009, hopes to bring about more consistency within the family of LEED rating systems, more focus on energy and climate issues through the use of more scientific benchmarks and an evaluation of building technology. The point system for all LEED programs will consist of 100 points with a possible 10 point “bonus.” Previously the system was based on 64 points with a potential for 5 bonus points. A sliding scale was created to earn marks for optimizing energy efficiency, with a maximum of 19 points, as compared to the former maximum of 10 points. With changes like this you can see that the projects hoping to be LEED certified will need to have a much heavier focus on energy performance. Some of the other changes reflected in the LEED 2009 rating system are:

• 20% reduction in water-use is now mandatory for certification; previously you would have earned 1 point for water-use reduction.
• The “Sustainable Sites” category will contribute to almost 24% of the maximum score, this is about 4% higher from the old rating system.
• LEED 2009 offers bonus points to those that put an emphasis on their regional environmental goals (to be published in March).
• The “Energy and Atmosphere” category now makes up nearly 32% of the total score; formerly it was approximately 25%.
• Access to public transportation earns 6 points as opposed to 1 point prior to the revisions.

I would venture to believe that USGBC anticipates applicants to shine their spotlights on energy use and renewable energy sources – as that has been a driving force as of late.

Some of you reading this may already know that it’s not easy being green (thanks Kermit) and in order to obtain LEED certification you have to put yourself to the test through the USGBC’s certification process. The USGBC’s website has a multitude of information about the process, helpful documents and guides, a listing of professionals that are LEED accredited and schedules for LEED training workshops and conferences. The certification is performed by a third-party who will evaluate the building to ensure that it meets the highest standards of sustainability. If you’re uncertain as to whether or not your building has the potential to be LEED certified, take a moment to review the LEED checklist.

Going through this process has incredible rewards for not only for the environment but from a financial standpoint. When your building is LEED certified you qualify for special tax rebates, zoning allowances and benefits in hundreds of other cities. The federal economic stimulus package also provides existing buildings the opportunity to take advantage of these benefits by properly retrofitting current equipment and structures. As you can see, LEED is the yardstick by which the green building industry is measured through its efforts to champion environmental friendliness and efficient use of energy. In my final installment of this series I’ll discuss how sustainable building should stay afloat amidst the economic downturn – yes some industries will thrive during this and I believe sustainability is just now gaining popularity. Until our next discussion, go green!

See more at www.acreageanywhere.com

Well, the elation of seeing our gorgeous off grid house construction progress was tempered with the anger that sometime yesterday, on Thanksgiving, people felt they could saunter onto private property and enjoy our house kit, eating and discarding snack food bags and soda cans in our environmentally friendly home. I know it was none of our neighbors, all whom have farms and homesteads and respect and care for each other. I suspect it was the deer hunters in the hunt club that are leasing property behind us, who travel over 2 hours to this pristine area then loose their dogs and run amok regardless of people's legal boundaries. Our neighbor across the street has already had confrontations with these men, one of them berating their teenage daughter when she boldly started writing down trespassers' license plates... Obviously whomever littered and lingered in our future home had no regard for family or private property, no matter how many "no hunting" signs you post. It is something we, as a community and neighbors, will have to aggressively address to protect our privacy and ensure there are no unknown bands of rifle-toting trespassers about thinking any movement might be deer. (Yes we wear blaze orange. But stupid people who feel they can loiter on land that's not theirs certainly don't have the brain to distinguish between a fleeing buck or a playing child.) Anyway, while I stew on this, here's a new 360 picture of the interior... if you can't see it then you can see the full posthere on my blog. (FYI you can arrow up and down and all around... have fun!) [Still thinking about the fact that trespassers littered and loitered in our future home. Stupid landless poacher deer hunters...] Ok, fine, on to gorgeous house kit environmentally friendly passive solar design! (Heh heh... believe me... I will be much better equipped to deal with trespassers by next week... love my scouting cameras and er, some other tricks up my sleeve!) Honestly, aside from the initial shock (but really, not a big surprise especially as our neighbors had just been telling us what a problem non-neighbors were during deer season), it was a lovely day. I asked Ron for his guest blogger comments, but he smiled and said there were no surprises. We took an old friend out with us, and I am looking forward (hint, hint Tony!) to hearing his thoughts and sharing them. He loved the house kit, loved the placement of the house on the site, the window/lighting... and had some great ideas of what to do in landscaping along the north side that borders the field... To actually walk around the interior... these photos do not do it justice. Natural light, high ceilings, the flow, the views while maintaining privacy... it all seems so much *more* than a small footprint home would seem to feel. I would have taken some videos but the Amish were working and I didn't want to worry them about a camera (we took all these pictures after they had left for the day, hence the dusk feel of the light). Speaking of the Amish, it was really nice to meet the crew- and one of them I knew! We both smiled when we saw each other: For years, we stop right outside the town at "The Amish Children's Stand." There, various siblings man a booth where they sell jams, relishes, bread, cookies, and vegetables in season... Anyway, there's always a older child or two, maybe 2 middle children, and one young child there. It turns out that one of the eldest is now old enough to start doing some more kinds of work... like being on the crew of building a modern off grid house kit! It was a funny moment. By the time we would pull up to that Amish childrens' stand we would have been traveling with 2 (very young back then) whiny children, two wild dogs (one who was usually on my lap)... and we'd tumble out to get our bread, etc. for the weekend and this same child would gape at us... I'd explain we had traveled far to be there, that we were camping, had no shelter, but hoped to one day have a home, how much we loved the area and community... And here he was, now all grown up, building my home. : ) "Well," I said to him, "Now you know where the Crazy Family lives!" And he laughed. : )

WE HAVE A ROOF!!!!!
: )
I can not *begin* to tell you what this feels like.
It was so amazing to walk around this weekend, with the wall panels up, taking our silly amateur videos, experiencing the walls of our *dream* finally there, solid... reality.

So imagine how I feel seeing pictures of our modern house structure with a roof.

THANK YOU Ron Bernaldo and Daniel Esh and their crew (um, guess Daniel won't be seeing this since Amish don't have email... :) )- and I look forward to thanking them all in person.

[Much less throw a big party!]

Please welcome again Ron Bernaldo, fabulous contractor.
His voice, I just type. : )
(BTW Ron, er, nice Arnold Schwarzenegger impression there!
Hahahaha!)

"The good news is... if the structure isn't high out of the ground, at least the 16/18 out of the ground, the roof panels are being set with a 4 man crew, because they're light enough they can be set by hand without a forklift or crane. IF it's close to the ground.

The assembly is easier on the roof panels than the walls.

Wednesday we won't get all the panels set because that side of the house (framing structure of the south side with all the clerestory windows, although the windows are on the north side) is more complicated than today's low north side.

I think we can wrap this up by Monday.
IF I'm right, and we wrap up (tomorrow is an Amish wedding and Bear Hunting Day. One Amish is going to a wedding, the others are bear hunting) on Monday, then we will be a day UNDER what I was hoping for.

The Amish driver and I are going to load up and install windows and doors on Friday while the other others are working on the roof panels on the south side."

Copeland's note: "Sigh... our dream is becoming reality!" : )