The home of Otto Van Geet, senior mechanical engineer in the Site Operations group at NREL, is located at 9,200 ft (2,800 m) in Clear Creek County, Colorado, and is not connected to the utility grid. A highly efficient building envelope combined with a 1 kW PV system, active solar water heating, and passive solar design limit the home’s imported energy needs to a small amount of propane. A detailed report is online at www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/32765.pdf.

Photo: National Renewable Energy Laboratory