Our Yard

The Solar Ranch and this website are both projects in the works. Although I was quite familiar with living with solar for a number of years, in 1999 my wife Linda and I had a vision of owning our own place that would be totally independent of outside electric.  Now as we look at what has been going on, I know that we have made the correct decision.

The Solar Ranch is our showcase for our solar energy business.  You can learn more about our solar business and about solar products at Solar-Catalog.com.  Also if you would like to get more involved with solar, please become a fan of my Facebook Solar Page, where you can interact with others who are interested in solar. 

If you would like more information about solar or wind and how they work, please check out my Solar Blog.

Our Original Solar Home

Up to this time I have been living in my motor home which is a bus that I converted in the early 1980's.  Linda joined me sometime in 1996 while I was living in Valdez, New Mexico, and it was time to take our relationship to a new level.

In The Beginning

It all started one summer day when Linda and I were heading home from a day at the hot springs in Ojo Caliente.  As we were passing through Carson, we decided to turn down the dirt road by the mud hut that was the post office. In fact, it was the only building in downtown Carson at the time.  That's when we first saw the property which was to become our homestead.

To be honest, we were actually looking for a small plot with a stream, like we had in Valdez.

Carson, New Mexico

Today downtown Carson has really expanded: we now have our very own store/deli/pizzeria known as Poco Loco General Store and community center so to speak and of course a Post Office. The school was abandoned during the early 1930's.

It is rumored that Billy the Kid is responsible for putting Carson on Google Earth. Back in the late 1800's he stopped at the Post Office and attempted to use it as an outhouse. Well, you can imagine what a stink that made around here.

We Made Our Purchase

We first purchased a five acre parcel and a few years later added an additional ten acres.  The land is mostly sage with some scattered pinion pines and junipers.

The "ranch" borders the Kit Carson National Forest which gives us well over 5,000 acres of undeveloped land to enjoy and take Lady (our dog) on long walks.

Complete With Landscaping

Most of the property remains undeveloped, except where we cleared for our buildings and driveway.  We built a 400 foot gated wall around the house.  We refer to this enclosed area as our "yard". 

In the yard we have two small ponds, a small orchard, a small area with a lawn, a vegetable garden, herb garden, and raised rock gardens with flowers.  In the middle of our yard sits the house.  There is a greenhouse with a tool shed and a hoop house to the east of the house.

600 Feet of Mud

During the spring of 2000 we had Kenny Drake plow us a 600 foot driveway and had the property cleared where we wanted our house, woodcarving studio and bus.

By summer I had built a storage shed where we later built the house and moved the bus to its current location.

In September I started building the studio.

A Wood Carving Studio is Born

The studio was started in September 2000.  It is post and frame with straw bales used for the walls.  This means that the actual straw bales are not weight bearing.  The actual appearance is similar to that of adobe construction.  The studio worked out well and stays cool in the Summer and cozy in the Winter thanks to the wood stove.

The roof slops to the south making the studio taller on the north side. This design provides good snow melt in the winter and allows the warmer air of Summer to be vented out.  Because of the tall ceilings, I was able to put storage over the office (which has the bared windows) and a second deck over the store room to the north.  I did not run this second floor the full length of the northern side.  Instead, I built two huge storage landings.  One above my painting area and one above my knife making area.

The first thing I did after I had framed the studio was to complete the office and store room and make them water proof.  After that, I completed the remaining exterior walls.  In late October I put part of the under floor down so I could start carving.  The roof went up about a week later and the woodstove followed shortly after.

The construction of the studio stayed just slightly ahead of my carving commissions. By January 2001 everything was done except for the exterior stucco which was completed in June.

Next Came the Home

While still working on the studio, Linda and I started to design our house. During the Summer of 2001 I drew up the official blue prints based on our designs and had them approved by a structural engineer from Santa Fe.  I started purchasing building materials and by the beginning of September 2001 I broke ground.

The house is also built with straw bales, only this time we also used adobe bricks on the interior walls and saltillo tile on the floor for solar mass and framed the south wall of the house. 

The style of the house is based on the traditional Spanish Adobe Pueblo styled homes which are so common throughout northern New Mexico. Complete with a traditional a portal running along the front of the house.

The south wall which is shown in the photo to the right is pretty much a standard 2 x 6 frame construction with lots of windows.  I added extra foam insulation to the outside of the wall and used adobe brick and mud on the inside of the wall.

Although we were able to move into the house in just little over a year later (February 2002), it is still not quite done.  This is mainly due to the fact that I have been the one doing most of the work, it is like a sculpture to me. 

At the present time I have completed all the cabinets & most of the shelves.  There are still some interior doors (8), furniture, some tiling, mudding and wood trim left to do.  My goal is to be completed by Fall of 2010.
 

More Light and Space than the Bus

The hallway which runs along the south side of the house between the kitchen to the east and our bedroom on the west provides us with plenty of light.  The bathroom and a second bedroom are accessed off the north side of the hallway.  The living room and dining room are located to the north of the kitchen, giving the house an "L" shape. 

Notice that the north wall (on the right), the west wall, and the portion of the south wall (on the left under the plants) are constructed entirely of adobe mud bricks with mud mortar. These walls along with the tile floor actually gather heat during the day and disperse it at night (this is called passive solar).

Our Heating System

The mechanical room and laundry are located on the north as well and are accessed off the living room.  This design allows the sun to warm the south facing hallway during the winter which helps to keep the house warm during the evenings.  The straw bale walls have an R value of 45.  I also put extra insulation above the ceiling so that the house stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

By placing the mechanical room on the north side provides heat to this portion of the house. 

The washing machine and a sink use to share the mechanical room but when I installed the supplemental solar water heating system I added a separate room for the laundry.  This extra space also provided us with room for our 12 cubic foot freezer and additional shelving for storage.

With the solar water heating we are now able to produce enough hot water during most of the year for all our domestic hot water consumption (for cleaning dishes, clothing, baths, and showers).  During the winter months the solar also supplements our radiant floor heating. 

Notice the four white tanks to the right.  The one looking directly into the camera is our companion and guard wolf.  The two to her right are for solar water storage (240 gal) so that we have hot water during the nights. The final tank directly to the back and in the center of this photo is what is called a sidearm tank which provides our domestic hot water.

On the left side of the photo are the system controllers, our propane furnace, and most of the systems fifty valves. 

The solar heating system has three pumps, one to move the water from the collectors on the roof, a second to move hot water from a drain back tank (far right hand corner), the third pump is used to circulate hot water for either the sidearm tank or for the radiant floor heating.

All in all, there is a fourth pump which is used as a pre-heat circulator for the domestic hot water.  This means that there is hot water at the sink when you turn on the faucet. 

Of course I should mention that there is a deep well pump to get water from the well to our cistern.  A booster pump provides water to the pressure tank so that our water system is always under pressure just like your house may be.
 

More Space

The house is 1,575 square feet, the fact that we have tall ceilings (over 12 foot) makes it feel larger then it is.  To keep the inside bright since we have mudded walls, we incorporated eight skylights into our design. Three of which can be open to allow more air movement when needed. These three are located in the main bed room, bathroom and kitchen. The skylights in the second bedroom, living room and dining room are all stationary

Both bedrooms and the living room also have ceiling fans to help circulate the air. 

A door at the west end of the house (in the bedroom) and one at the east end of the house (in the dining room) also allow for good circulation during the spring and summer months when we have good breezes. 

We close the bedroom door in the afternoon when the sun comes around to that side of the house.  This helps keep the cooler air of the morning inside.

Power from the Sun & Wind

Our electric is entirely produced on our property.  We use the energy from both the sun and wind to provide us with about 90 percent of our electric needs. Occasionally we have assistance from our Kohler propane back-up generator. 

It is our intension to eventually produce enough electric from sun and wind so as not to have to use the generator except for emergencies should that happen.

The solar panels and wind turbines produce DC electric which is stored in solar storage batteries.  This DC electric is then made into AC electric which is used in the house and studio.

This is an OutBack Redundant Off-the-Grid Power Center
From Left to Right: Communication Hub, AC Disconnects,
2 Inverters, DC Disconnects, 2 Solar Controllers

About Our Power Production

Our main electric system consists of 2.8 kilowatts (kW) of solar at 48 volts direct current (VDC) with two 400 watt (W) wind turbines.

Our battery storage capacity is a 700 amp hour (AH) capacity. 

We run two redundant OutBack VFX3648 sine wave inverter/chargers to produce a maximum of 7.2 kilowatts at 120 volts alternating current (VAC) which is the same as produced by a utility company. 

A Kohler 6.5 kilowatt, single leg, propane generator provides us with back up power.
 

More About the System

The reason that for having two inverters is so should one be out of service, there will be a back up thus no down-time.  One of these inverters is the master which handles all the loads while the second one is the slave which comes on as needed.  Prior to having the two inverters, I had to use the generator in order to start my joiner in the woodcarving studio.  Another advantage of having a second inverter is when we have to use the generator the time required to charge the batteries is cut in half.  Also when there is an above average draw on the system, the second inverter cuts in to take some of the work load from the master inverter, thus allowing the inverters to run cooler.

Being that we live at over 7,200 feet above sea level a generator's output is reduced considerably plus most generators are putting out 240VAC which means that at the very best, each 120VAC leg is only producing 50% of the generator's capacity.  In order to get the most out of our generator, I had it rewired so all the output goes to one leg or 120VAC. In the thirty plus years that I have been woodcarving, I have never needed 240VAC and most likely never will.  However, should sometime down the road I have a need for 240VAC, I can always add an OutBack transformer to produce the second 120VAC leg which would give me 240VAC.

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KEEPING IT GREEN!!!     This Site Created & Maintained by Terry R. Wolff, Taos New Mexico   Electric used to Create & Maintain this Web Site is supplied by Solar Taos, LLC and is made by the Sun & Wind   The Electric used to Host this Web Site is  made by the Wind

This page was last edited on March 23, 2010 by Terry R. Wolff