Resourceful Guy Builds Solar House, Solar Power, Solar Car

Peak Moment 145: John Weber's Boise, Idaho house with south-facing windows rarely needs heat and never air conditioning. Meet a man who has built a passive-solar house with solar electric power and solar hot water; plus a solar-powered electric car -- and who rides a bike! With photovoltaics tied to the grid, he sells surplus electricity back to the power company. John shows how he converted his "Sun Car" from a junked Festiva to all-electric, with added solar panels on top to extend its range. Ride with us - and hear how quiet it is!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• local
• energy
• passive
• solar
• power
• electric
• vehicle

[PivotLoverGuy]

What the hell is this thing???

[peakmoment]

Did you watch the video? What "thing" do you mean?

[docrw]

I personally think that anyone that does what this guy has done shouldn't have to pay taxes at all, and let the hummer drivers pay a huge penalty. Janaia you have dedicated a lot of your own time and money in the cause that should have started way before now, and I for one thank you. I'm hoping to do many of the same things that John has done on my farm, not because I'm a tree huger (I'm not) because we don't need to have the things we have put in front of us all these years to live. Thanks!

[peakmoment]

Thanks for your support, friend. Robyn and I produce Peak Moment pretty much on a volunteer basis so far (we get a little funding from dvd sales).

Your donations and dvd purchases, on our website peakmoment-dot-tv keep us going. We also invite folks to sign up for our monthly email newsletter with behind-the-scenes news. Same place.

[copefarms]

I appreciate electric hybrid cars but the problem is they will NEVER be mainstream. Heres why... Politicians need your money. If we all stopped buying gasoline where would all the tax dollars go to build roads and all their little pet projects they throw away? The loss of sales of petroleum would kill our economy from the taxes they collect. The politicians arent going to let you have electric cars. That would be like shooting themselves in their own foot.

[peakmoment]

Politicians have been brilliantly finding things to tax for thousands of years. Even when petroleum is scarce, surely they will find other things to tax. Here in California as well as at the federal level, they're thinking of new things like taxing soda pop!

[erkd1]

Don't bother waiting for the Big 3 to deliver affordable electric vehicles, they did that once and ended up crushing them in the Arizona desert and now one of the oil companies owns the patent (on the EV-1) on that cars battery technology so it will never see the light of day. Very inspiring story, 5 stars, fav'd

Thanks for posting!

[jdolani]

Awesome guy!

[glennjgd]

Free Energy is real and its here! The Oil companies are doing everything they can to stop this

information. If you want a Free energy machine , get the blueprints at LT-MAGNET-MOTORdotCOM , Join the

revolution!

[smallfootprintenergy]

I check the wind speed for one year and solar was more cost effective to create electricity. Geothermal was also not cost effective for the little heating needed for the house.

I am currently working on a new project called the Boise Small Footprint Housing Project. It should be much better and much more affordable. John

[AICorp]

Does john have any interest in adding any form of geothermal or wind power to his home?

There would be alot of overhead cost to geothermal for him, but It would help him keep warm in the winter.

And I am unsure about the zoning laws in his area, but if he were able to add a residential wind turbine, he could probably get his yearly bill to be purely a credit.

(Hopefully it would offset the costs of the installations!)

[jcf005]

@gilgamesh1962

instead of roof mounted make a cover out of solar power plastic instead. It is way more efficient, and doesn't use silicon. Plus the angle of the sun doesn't matter near as much so contouring to the vehicle is not a problem, not to mention its effective on cloudy days. It costs a fraction of as much as silicon panels and weighs 100x less. Then make the car cut wind.. fiberglass body-kit and install LED lamps, can even use solar dye on windows. oh the possibilities.

[gilgamesh1962]

I agree, beside, if oil production keeps declining, its not a question if Gov's like it or not, some alternative to oil will be needed. and most alternatives can be produced individually, Electric can be produced by Solar, and wind, Ethanol can be made using bio waste products like with e-fuel system , then there is methanol from bio-digesters, and so on.

[gilgamesh1962]

I applaud John's efforts, but I would have some suggestions, the caosting switch can be placed on the break, so when he lightly presses, it coasts, press harder, it breaks. also find ways to make the weigh less I noticed a lot of stuff not required. and the main change would be to use better batteries, like lithium, they weigh less and have more power ( last longer too) and place the panels on the house instead, you'll generate the power there that later you'll use to charge the car.

[elektor1984]

lol 20 miles!