Who Else Is Interested In A Solar Energy Powered House In The Heart Of The Suburbs?

19 Manapau Street, Meadowbank, Auckland,

New Zealand

The suburban house and office built at 19 Manapau Street Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand has been designed in a contemporary style, by Kristina and Simon Cope.

We wanted a house and attached office space that was 'timeless' in it's style, practical to live in and maintain, and use near zero external sources of conventional fuel/energy to provide electricity, and heating.

We have achieved these goals by using readily available, proven products / design services - typically available anywhere in the western world:

1. Installation of solar electricity modules (photovoltaics) on the roof to generate adequate power to run all of the modern appliances in the house and office.
   
   
   
2. Installation of solar hot-water panels on the roof to provide all year round supply of hot water for heating and cooking/washing purposes.
   
   
   
3. Installation of radiator system throughout the house / office areas to evenly distribute and control the temperature in separate rooms.
   
   
   
4. Insulation pads (polyester fibre) installed in all wall (including internal) ceiling and floor areas to provide both thermal barrier and sound dampening properties.
   
   
   
5. Custom made heated towel rails that have hot water circulated through them to enable us to have warm and 'yummy' towels to dry ourselves with, and our washed clothes in the bathrooms and laundry areas.
   
   
   
6. Snaking 3/8 copper pipe with hotwater flowing in them under the tile floors in the bathrooms to ensure the tiles are warm and toasty in winter underfoot.
   
   
   
7. Use of a grid-intertie inverter to export the excess electricity generated onsite (ie electricity not used immediately by the house at that time) during the day out to other consumers in Auckland to use by spinning our utility/power company meter backwards - thus giving us a credit - and then when we use more than we are making, or at night time, draw off the national grid and spin the meter back in the 'normal' direction...No batteries, no hassles, nothing complicated :-)

If you are interested in any of the products or services we discuss here at the Solar Energy House.com, please contact us for more details on that product or service. Thank you.

I am sorry to say that this website is 'under construction', just like the house. Please send us an email and go on our mailing list and we will keep you update of when we add more to this site.