Promoting solar power

Tour offers glimpse into two county homes powered by sun

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006

by Rebecca McClay

Staff Writer

A short stretch of cleanly mowed grass leads from Randy Williams’ straw bale home to his electric meter.

He refers to it as ‘‘Randy’s Path” and on sunny days, he travels it several times daily to check his Allegheny Power meter. On Tuesday, it was spinning in reverse.

‘‘We’re supplying electricity to the grid,” Williams said. ‘‘It’s just so exciting.”

When a cloud passes, the meter may spin normally, counter-clockwise, for a few minutes. It may also spin in a normal direction during overcast days, Williams said.

With 24 photovoltaic panels, or solar panels, converting sunlight into energy, Williams said his home energy bill is often cut in half.

Williams’ home is nestled off Buckeystown Pike, painted peach over irregular clay walls. It is one of dozens of area homes on a nationwide tour this weekend that will allow the public to view energy-saving options.

The 16th annual tour, sponsored by the American Solar Energy Association’s National Tour of Solar Homes, will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at homes in the Washington, D.C. region. Two homes in Frederick County — a Libertytown home and Williams’ home — are on the tour.

The other Frederick County home on the tour, at 9158 Libertytown Way, features a greenhouse, ground-source heat pump and super insulation.

According to a guidebook, the Libertytown home is part of a co-housing community of 18 homes that all use ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling. Visitors can view the home’s thick walls that provide extra insulation, and learn how warm air from the greenhouse is pumped into the home on sunny winter days.

Williams’ system cost roughly $6,000 to install, but Williams secured a $3,500 state grant to offset costs. More than $1.5 million in solar grants will be available in Maryland in the next year, according to Charlie Garlow, Solar Tour chairman.

Appicants may receive up to 20 percent of a solar system’s cost, with a maximum of $3,000 for residential solar panels. Williams received his grant prior to the grant cap.

Garlow said the tour, aimed to promote solar use to reduce energy consumption, in recent years has drawn more attendees.

‘‘We hope people will see these homes and get excited about doing [solar projects] in their homes, so we lower the impact of pollution,” Garlow said.

Williams’ 1,105-square-foot home was erected from 1999 to 2000. It has a vaulted ceiling and oak floors and uses 18-inch thick walls of 285 straw bales coated with clay as insulation.

Williams harvested the materials from his 3-acre property. The walls keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Insulation for the roof and outdoor walls of an addition to his home is composed of pastel blue wads of cotton made from denim scraps from a clothing factory, he said.

Williams, who has participated in the tour the last two years, said his goal is to educate visitors on the costs and benefits of installing energy-saving features. He often gives group tours and posts signs to answer frequently asked questions on unique features of his home.

‘‘Many people go away with the feeling that someday they can do this, too,” Williams said. ‘‘A lot of people think, ‘Wow, I could put that on my house.’”

In the past, Williams has held scavenger hunts for children, asking them to find features of the home such as a ‘‘truth window,” which is a patch of wall where the inside straw has remained exposed.

That allows visitors to confirm the house is constructed of straw, Williams said.

‘‘People are interested in all aspects of the house,” Williams said, sipping a glass of unsweetened grape juice his wife made with grapes from their vineyard. The vineyard is also fueled with sunlight.

The home also features energy-efficient light bulbs and recycled furniture and doors. An irrigation system pumps gray water, or used water from the sink or shower, into an outdoor garden, and a composting, waterless toilet.

The house needs no septic tank. Biodegradable waste from the kitchen and bathroom collect in a tank in Williams basement. There, the mixture turns into a dark soil Williams uses for nutrients in his garden.

Outside his basement door, three buckets sat full of the soil, flecked with eggshells and pumpkin seeds ready for planting. Up a short embankment, Williams has constructed a second straw-bale structure: a shed.

The smell of linseed oil wafts from a fresh coat polish on the shed’s earthen floors made of clay, sand and straw. A coat of beeswax will complete the structure.

‘‘Though a house is complex, there are some parts that are quite simple, and quite natural,” Williams said.