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More power to them: House produces energy surplus
David Wallace stared at his electric meter intently, watching the wheel slow down, come to a full stop, then rotate backward.
By BRYAN O’CONNOR
Of The Gazette Staff
"I can’t tell you how much that’s worth to me. I just look at it and say, ‘Yes yes yes!’ " Wallace says, pumping his fists.
image of Wallace
Wallace grinned ear to ear as he talked about the solar panels that often generate more power than his energy-efficient home consumes. The home Wallace shares with his wife Jean about four miles west of Ryegate, was one of 30 on display Saturday. The tour was sponsored by NorthWestern Energy’s renewable energy program.
Comfortable temperatures
About 1,600 square feet of the south-facing home is underground, and about 1,200 square feet is above ground. The southern side is mainly windows, which provide light and heat throughout the year. The house, with little or no artificial heating or cooling, stays between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Wallaces built the house over an eight-year period, starting in 1979. From the beginning, they wanted the most efficient house possible, but there were compromises along the way. Jean Wallace didn’t want to live in a cave; she had to have plenty of windows.
After several plans were drawn, the couple had trouble finding a contractor or architect who would take on their idea. They finally did, and they set to work blowing a 50-foot-by-50-foot square hole in the sandstone with dynamite.
They poured 10-inch-thick concrete walls and did the framing of the house themselves. Most of the finish work, all cedar, was done by hired contractors from Billings. As soon as the house was finished, the Wallaces rented it out and moved to Kansas to complete their master’s degrees.
"There we were, living like starving college kids," Jean Wallace said. "We came home in the summer and realized we own something really cool."
Funded with grant
In 1995, they moved back and set to work making the already efficient home even more affordable. Through a grant from NorthWestern Energy, they bought a 1240 Watt solar array panel to supplement their energy needs. NWE paid for half of the $9,000 panel.
The inverter outside the house has a digital display, showing how much electricity the panels are generating. On Saturday – a pleasant fall afternoon – they were pushing out about 840 Watts. Since July 2002, the panels have fed 2,527 Kilowatt hours back into the grid.
"It feels really good to be putting electricity back into the system, rather than taking it out," David Wallace said.
The house has few lights, the main energy draw being the hot water heater and the compressors on the freezer and refrigerator. The house is particularly quiet, so quiet that one of the downstairs bedrooms has been nicknamed "the womb" by the Wallaces.
Well-versed on alternative-energy sources and methods, the Wallaces aren’t finished yet. They have a 52-foot tower with a wind generator on top in the process of coming on line. The only problem – it probably will produce too much power.
There is a catch to producing your own power. When the Wallaces roll their power meter backward, NWE does not pay them for it. Instead, they are credited, and can draw off that power when they use more than they generate. But the credits are erased each year on Jan. 1.
The Wallaces are looking at using an "energy dump" for the wind turbine when it produces too much power. The dump would take the power and channel it to a hot water tank preheater, before it goes into their normal hot-water heater, therefore cutting their electrical costs.
Their current hot-water heater is run with propane. They refill the 1,000-gallon propane tank once a year. Their range and a little-used heater also use propane.
David Wallace doesn’t mince words when it comes to using electricity inefficiently.
"Using electricity for heat is like using a chainsaw to cut butter," he said.
The Wallaces left the house for two weeks in the winter once, in below-freezing temperatures. Even though they left the heater off, the house was at 60 degrees when they returned. But, living underground has it drawbacks too. People refer to David as "mole man" and they had to put up an electric fence to keep the horses and cows off the roof.
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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