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Aug 28, 2009 6:54 pm US/Central
Eco-Friendly House At Fair Generates Its Own Power
(WCCO)
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"Now the outside of the building is interesting because we've gone with a very contemporary look on this particular house," said Wagner.
CBS
You won't believe it. They've built a whole house inside the Eco Experience building. It's net zero--meaning all the power used by the house is actually created by the house using no fossil fuels. And there's much more. WCCO-TV Anchor Don Shelby took a tour.
"How many people do you think will be coming through the exhibit?" asked Shelby.
"We expect at least 350,000 people this year," said David Wagner of SALA Architects.
"I'm looking at the wide open spaces," said Shelby. "I love the great room concept because I think all houses are eventually going to that. But I'm wondering about the openess of this. When you're building for a real resident, will you have this open like this?"
"No. As a matter of fact, what we're looking at here is a wall system of glass. This would be the south side of the building," said Wagner.
"So, it's all passive solar," said Shelby.
"It's all passive solar. So, We've got a sun shade to protect us during the summer time from the harsh rays. But when the sun gets a littel bit lower in the winter time we've got all that sun light comes in," said Wagner.
"One of the big features that we've got here at the house is this new counter top material which is just a wonderful durable surface. This is a crushed walnut shell counter top. It's set in a low VOC resin and it's a very strong durable material. It can be worked just like wood, so you can buy it in slabs and do it yourself or if you wanted to you could have a fabricator create these for you. But it's just a wonderful surface," said Wagner.
"Are there local fabricators of this material? Or is this something that has to be shipped in right now?" asked Shelby.
"This is made in NE Minneapolis, so not only is it a green material, it's made locally," said Wagner.
"Let's go in the bathroom here," said Shelby.
"We actually have a sink on top of the toilet tank that then drains in and fills that tank. So the water your using to flush your toilet is the waste water from washing your hands," said Wagner.
"So it's a grey water reclamation?" asked Shelby.
"You bet," said Wagner.
"Now the outside of the building is interesting because we've gone with a very contemporary look on this particular house," said Wagner.
"Cuz that just looks like old-time corrugated sheeting," said Shelby.
"A lot of these sustainable strategies that we're talking about they can be done with any style of house. But there's some unique properties to the materials we are using here that we thought were important to show to people," said Wagner.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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