Alternative Energy and Building Class

We attended an all-day alternative building and energy class yesterday. They covered solar energy using the standard collectors on the roof, photovoltaic collectors, and house design, such as, positioning of the house and windows and eaves to let sunshine in during the winter but not in the summer. They had energy-saving appliances and incorporated many things when building their house to insulate and shield. The second house we visited was built using the cordwood method. The man who built it was 70 years old at the time and did the work himself. Wow. He had a sod roof and had built the house around a stone pillar in the middle that ran up from the wood furnace (that he also built himself) in the basement. He had recessed his shower into the pillar so it would be very warm and in the kitchen he had recessed a place for his beautiful Stanley wood cook stove. Awesome! At the third house they had used straw-bale building for their home and were working on an outside storage building using the same method. They also were working on an outside clay oven! One of the families attending had built one, too, so we were able to talk to them about it. That is another long-time dream of mine: to have a clay oven. The family said that they mainly use it for cooking pizzas. Yum!
It was a very full day and we have lots to think about, as far as, using what we learned.
Hope your days are going well!