AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SHOWPLACE

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BITS AND PIECES

One company makes a commitment to the planet's future.

Picture a place where you can park your electric car next to a charging station, spend the night in an alternative energy—powered bed and breakfast, and peer through the walls around you to see the progressive techniques used to build them. Real Goods, Inc., of Ukiah, CA, a source for alternative energy information and products since 1978, is well on the way to creating this world at its Hopland Solar Living Center, on a site once used as a dumping ground.

The learning center and museum opens midsummer and will house a retail store, a bed and breakfast, and the company's headquarters. Visitors will be able to look into the structures and examine building materials through "truth windows" placed throughout as well as examine hands-on displays, giant composters, bread-breaking solar ovens, solar ice makers, and a biodigester of human waste. "We want people to see the efficiency and rational behind sustainable development and alternative energy," said Jeff Oldham, project director. "We w ant them to touch it, feel it, and see why it was chosen. We want them to see that it makes sense."

Real Goods chose Sim Van der Ryn, the former California state architect under Governor Jerry Brown, as its architect. For phase one, Sim designed a 5,000-square-foot building that resembles a curved bird wing. The northern, non—load-bearing walls are being constructed from rice strawbales (R value 50) and the southern, window-filled walls are supported by steel panels. These newly designed panels—made of 100 percent recycled steel—have a Styrofoam core wrapped in steel mesh, allowing for insulating air space between the core and the steel frame. Straw bale construction—a sensible option in other states—currently can't meet California strength tests, so bales will be used along with post-and-beam construction for non—load-bearing walls only.