© Photographer: | Agency: Dreamstime.com

The first thought upon hearing the name is-what is it?!?! Images of people being eaten by lions while the house sits idly by flash through my mind. Yes, I know, I do have an active imagination. Banishing those ghastly daydreams, the central theme of the passive house comes into view-energy conservation. To the tune of 90%. The house is well-insulated. In fact, it is air tight. A mechanical air filter exchanger is working constantly to move fresh air throughout the house. This same system allows the new air to be heated or cooled at will, bringing down the energy bills.

Now, I always thought most homes were supposed to be airtight except for older farmhouses and house trailers. Perhaps my standards are a bit higher than most builders, of even recent vintage.

300 Watts heating per person can be delivered by a fresh air heating system. I would be interested in hearing more about a passive home. Is sounds fun to live in. Why? You don’t have to worry about the heating or cooling bills. The house takes care of itself. Hooray!

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GreenHouse is two things at UW-Madison with CALS Department of Community and Environmental Sociology Professor Jack Kloppenburg heading it up. Newly housed in the old Cole Hall, GreenHouse combines many different UW-Madison’s programs or interest groups. This includes cooking to gardening to solar living to community gathering. Secondly, it is a state of mind of being sustainable. According to Dr. Jack Kloppenburg the definition of sustainability includes ” both the biophysical world and the social context. It’s about creating an environment where no one is in need, where we are mindful of our impact on our natural resources and on other people.” © Photographer | Agency: Dreamstime.com

To that goal, they will be adding solar collectors to the roof of Cole Hall and greening up the one stove – one refrigerator space in the basement to make it a community gathering place where they learn to cook meals for each other and more.

I love the concept of interdisciplinary studies. Isn’t this how a person lives once they leave the school environment? Perhaps if our schools had been more integrated with the community, then ideas that “that sounds too much like ’school’” wouldn’t be shunned by many older individuals. GreenHouse encourages faculty to get out of the classroom and the lecture halls and interact with the students and other faculty in learning and sharing innovative ideas and down-home training as well.

University Housing Food Service staff fully supports this with foodservice classes offered in the future which will include simple cooking techniques. Dr Jack Kloppenburg envisions students returning from the farmer’s market on the Madison Square and in no time preparing them for lunch or supper from the knife skills taught them.

Looking to hear more about the solar collectors and how efficient they are able to make them. Stay tuned here and to http://www.cals.wisc.edu/grow for all energy happenings.

Wires from the solar controller are double protected in going to the solar panel batteries. Find out how by watching the video above.

The change controller takes the power from the solar panels and regulates it down to what the batteries can safely accept. Learn about change controllers for solar power from a professional in this free energy conservation video.

This controller allows for easy connection to different size batteries. It even has an led system to tell you the condition of the battery.

Summary: Fourteen volts is a good number for a fully charged battery that is ready to be connected to an inverter. Learn how to connect an inverter for a solar power system from a professional in this free energy conservation video.

This is the 7th video in a 18-video solar panel instructional series. Look for new videos appearing almost daily.

Wow! Sometimes you may not need a converter. To find out why, watch this video.

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A standard inverter tells the user when power is coming in and how much is going out. Learn about standard inverters for solar power from a professional in this free energy conservation video.

The battery bank gets the needed voltage to individual inverters. Learn about the battery bank for solar power from a professional in this free energy conservation video.

The balance of system is what explains how all the elements of a solar energy system work together. Learn about the balance of system for solar power from a professional in this free energy conservation video.

They have provided an interactive chart that shows what they see of the constellations throughout the year. This is a chart that changes with the seasons, you just tell it the period, month and the time. Enjoy!