Green Options

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The iconoclastic owner of the San Jose tract home featured in this article takes exception to the notion that green is expensive.  Green, to him, is rooted in conservation of all resources, not the least of them being money.

Frank Schiavo’s compact, tract-built, three-bedroom ranch-style home in a modest San Jose neighborhood demonstrates that remodeling to create a cutting-edge green home is neither difficult nor expensive. Heated with sunlight and cooled by night air, his home is comfortable, quiet and tasteful, filled with light and local art. With only modest investments in a sun room, extra insulation, new windows, a very small array of rooftop photovoltaic and solar hot water panels, his electricity bill for the coldest, cloudiest months of the year averages a few dollars a month. His gas bill is even more modest.

What’s most impressive about Schiavo’s house isn’t that it’s so comfortable and practical for him to own, it’s that it demonstrates that lofty resource conservation goals can be achieved on a modest remodeling budget.

Solar System Powers Donggwang Green Village on Semi-Tropical Jeju Island

Donggwang is on the western half of Jeju-do, the largest of South Korea’s semi-tropical southern islands. Near the village, Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea, rises from the island’s center amidst a patchwork of small farms.

Donggwang has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.

Gary GerberLast week I spoke with Ryan Chao, director of Satellite Housing in Berkeley, CA about a new project that featured solar energy. Today, my guest is Gary Gerber, President and Founder of Sun Light and Power, the company that installed the solar array for Satellite Housing.

Gary founded his company in 1976, and he tells the story of what happened to solar power, and how

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