The SunHawk: Green Building and Sustainable Design

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John and Nancy Schaeffer designed their home, SunHawk, to provide all the comforts of modern living while promoting sustainable building practices. The Schaeffers reside in Hopland, California.
John and Nancy Schaeffer designed their home, SunHawk, to provide all the comforts of modern living while promoting sustainable building practices. The Schaeffers reside in Hopland, California.
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John Schaeffer, shown left with his wife, Nancy, center, and daughter, Sara, is the founder of Real Goods, a solar retail business that has helped outfit more than 50,000 homes with solar power. The 12-acre Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, California, hosts nearly 200,000 visitors each year. Schaeffer also founded the Solar Living Institute, an environmental education nonprofit. He has experimented with and taught about state-of-the-art green building and renewable energy systems throughout his career.
John Schaeffer, shown left with his wife, Nancy, center, and daughter, Sara, is the founder of Real Goods, a solar retail business that has helped outfit more than 50,000 homes with solar power. The 12-acre Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, California, hosts nearly 200,000 visitors each year. Schaeffer also founded the Solar Living Institute, an environmental education nonprofit. He has experimented with and taught about state-of-the-art green building and renewable energy systems throughout his career.
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The house's sunny south terrace provides an ideal place for growing tomatoes.
The house's sunny south terrace provides an ideal place for growing tomatoes.

Learn about green building ans sustainable design used in this solar home built by the Schaeffer family. John Schaeffer is the founder of Real Goods, a solar retail business and founded the Solar Living Institute, an environmental education nonprofit in Hopland, California.

The SunHawk: Green Building and Sustainable Design

When my wife, Nancy, and I started planning our dream homestead in 1998, our first thought was that our house needed to be far more than a shelter. We wanted our home to express our values and reflect everything we had learned from our 35 years of renewable-energy experience at Real Goods. We wanted to create a home that would promote sustainability by being energy independent, nontoxic and gentle to the environment, and we wanted it to be stunningly beautiful — a home to soothe the soul and nourish the spirit.

Three miles down a dirt road from Real Goods we found an idyllic piece of land with a breathtaking view of the surrounding valley. It was totally off the grid. off all grids there were no water or septic systems, and the nearest electricity and telephone service were a mile away. A seasonal creek isolated the property; to access it we had to build a bridge.

A Solar Home: Designing the Dream

  • Published on Dec 1, 2003
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