I met a fellow active community member recently. She mentioned that she had read about the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) here, and included a short lament about how her family would afford to upgrade her own home. I felt a pang of guilt - why should my family be empowered to build our way to energy independence when so many others aren't?

For The Record

For the record, we can afford to build this home due to a mixture of a very simple lifestyle, luck, fiscal prudence, fortunate career choices, and luck with real estate (did I mention luck?).  read more... »

Photovoltaic modules about to be installed on the MCNZH roof

Things are progressing nicely on the Mill Creek NetZero Home. The exterior is almost complete, not including the stucco that will be applied in the spring. 

MCNZH - the roof and wire and paper are now finished.  read more... »

I've always wanted to install a metal roof on the Mill Creek NetZero Home. The installation is almost complete now, and I'm very pleased with the sharp look of the roof. Style wasn't our main motivation for choosing to go with metal though.  read more... »

Peter Amerongen installing a sun pipe on the MCNZH's roof

Construction of the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) is progressing nicely.

Before Chrismas we (as in, Peter's crew and a friend of mine) started installing the steel roof. We installed the locally made sun pipe that will pipe natural light to the windowless bathroom on the second floor:

 read more... »