Aesthetically, how is the house environmentally sustainable?
Werth: They installed new insulation and a solar hot water system which is the panels on the garage behind the house. That is for domestic hot water-showers and baths. TMW: Do you have laundry? Bowron: Yes. All of the appliances are in the top ten percent of the energy star rating system. They purposefully didn’t pick the best ones because as you get to the top the price shoots up dramatically. TMW: On a normal weekend do you have people over? Bowron: The biggest things we’ve done are have friends over for a nice dinner. Last Friday night we had an Eco House and Veggie Co-op pot luck. Werth: The biggest outreach we did was formal tours of the house two weeks ago. The Minnesota Solar Energy Society has tours of sites with solar energy. A bunch of people stopped by. TMW: Are there any major challenges you’ve faced in living here? Bowron: Probably the biggest challenge is facing the sheer volume of media requests. TMW: Are you all in agreement about how to live with less impact? Werth: Ev
