The Solar Surprise

The other morning at the Public Benefits Committee meeting, the Observer was just waking up with that first cup of coffee, when Doug Albright, of Albright Electric, mentioned in conjunction with the discussion of how WPPI worked with local builders and businesses to implement energy conservation, that the new home constructed by the Evansville School Contruction course might be a "Zero energy home" or green home. The rep from WPPI described how they work with the builder from the design stage to zero in on the assistance that the home would qualify for etc. Mr. Albright stated that home sales were slow, but the one segment of home sales that was NOT slow was very, very energy efficient homes.

Several years ago, one of my engineer friends, was touring the Evanville Tour of Homes, and asked one of the tour guides the simple question, "Is this a Green Home?"
The young tour guide was a little taken aback. "No, I think it is yellow," she responded. Then an older woman smiled and explained to her what "Green" meant. "No it is not", she offered.

The beauty of the student construction project being "Green" would be that the students could be a role model for the contractors. I have to smile at the irony of it. The contractors are teaching the construction stuff and the students are modeling the solar to those that think it cannot be done profitably. Kinda neat in my book.

Stay tuned.