Alex Woodbury paid big for electricity to power his Waimea home. Electric rates on the Big Island can be twice what Oahu homeowners pay, and almost three times the national average. Too much, he said, so he quit. Since he didn’t want to live in the dark, however, Woodbury installed photovoltaic panels on his roof. Now, he forks over a measly $20 each month to stay connected to the grid. His home exemplifies successful solar energy net metering; the system culls energy from the sun all day and sells the extra to the Hawaiian Electric Light Co. At night, the home takes back what it needs. Overall, Woodbury breaks even.

“I don’t produce more than I use and vice versa,” Woodbury says. To make the deal even sweeter, his net meter measures the carbon emissions saved. The ticking numbers are definitely encouraging.

The living room's paniolo theme pays tribute to Waimea's cowboy history. Out on the lanai, homeowners Alex Woodbury, Jessica Salerno and Moki the dog enjoy the views of Mauna Kea. Green Bonus: All of the ohia posts and railings were reclaimed, not cut fresh for this project.

Woodbury’s home, like its energy efficiency, was inspired by a need for affordable living. After returning to the Big Island from the Mainland in 2003, Woodbury and his wife Jessica were ready to purchase a home. They were just in time for a huge housing market spike. Instead of buying, they decided to build their home, with lots of support. “We had a lot of help from some really great friends,” he says. Woodbury used his work as a building inspector and experience with his family’s contracting business as a starting point for shaping ideas. Others added drafting, framing and masonry expertise. “The people who worked on our house were absolute professionals,” he adds.

Woodbury was inspired by the Craftsman architectural style, which dictates that form follows function and the building should connect to nature. The new bungalow takes advantage of the cool Waimea climate. He connected the home to nature through an open floor plan and numerous doors and windows to make use of cooling cross breezes during the summer. Plus, from morning until sunset, the house is flooded with natural light. While winter months at this elevation (2,700 feet) can get chilly, Woodbury says his house is never too cold. Fiberglass insulation, formaldehyde free, of course, protects the home from wintry blasts.

This home was built to suit the homeowners' lifestyles, including Jessica's music lessons. Here, she teaches strings, steel drum and piano to more than 60 students. The room is also the stage for recitals. Parents can gather on the window seat, or sit in the living room to watch through the open French doors. Alex even refinished this piano himself, salvaging it from the trash heap.

While incorporating the local climate, the home also accommodates the homeowners’ lifestyles. To cut down on commutes, the basement-like ground floor features Woodbury’s home office and woodwork shop. A two-car garage has little space for actual vehicles, thanks to a mass of construction materials and Woodbury’s 50-gallon biodiesel tank. But that’s fine with him; he fills up his work cars with the super-efficient fuel. Jessica teaches piano, strings and steel-drum lessons to more than 60 students. Her music studio, on the home’s main floor, has its own entrance for students, and plenty of room for recitals. The room also includes art niches, perfect for displaying her many antique instruments.

The main floor encompasses the living areas, including the kitchen and dining room. This is the first room to catch the sun’s rays in the morning, and it stays bright all day. In the kitchen, Woodbury installed sandy travertine countertops to complement his African ribbon mahogany cabinetry. A sizeable living room connects the music studio to the kitchen. In here, Woodbury built bookcases to display mementos from the region’s paniolo past, as well as a few pieces of furniture. From both the kitchen and living rooms, French doors open onto a lanai, and a view of Mauna Kea. It looks like it’s just next door on clear days, the homeowners say.

The morning sun floods the kitchen with natural light

The bungalow gets its greenness from its materials. In the kitchen, plywood cabinet boxes, instead of particle board, are formaldehyde free, keeping the air fresh from toxins and giving the kitchen its green ticket. Engineered wood, which doesn’t need to be finished with harsh chemicals, covers the entire floor. Protective coatings were added to the low-emissivity windows on the south- and west-facing walls to block ultraviolet rays from heating up the house. Up on the roof, the TechShield sheath provides a reflective barrier for radiant heat. Woodbury notes this works well to stave off hot summer sun, as well as contain heat indoors when winter comes.

“If you’ve got the sun, and you have an electric water heater, solar water heating is a no brainer,” Woodbury says. He’s almost ready to take his own energy-saving advice. He planned the home to have propane water heating, a tankless system that flash-heats water only when you need it (still saving tons of energy). New solar water heating rebates have him thinking twice about switching to solar water heating, however.

Woodbury installed his photovoltaic panels in stages to maximize tax credits and rebates. His energy bills are now just $20 a month, the fee to stay connected to the grid. Photo by Alex Woodbury

Woodbury admits it wasn’t his goal to build a green house. The greenness was an accidental outcome of good planning. “I certainly wasn’t attempting to do anything green for posterity. It was strictly out of necessity due to energy costs,” he says.

Still, the greenest part of the house may be that it will last. “We wanted everything to be reliable. If we are going to live in this house forever, I don’t want to find myself replacing everything every 20 to 30 years,” Woodbury says. While the average home’s materials will carry warranties of 25 to 30 years, Woodbury looked for products with 50-plus years of dependable wear, such as the roof and siding. He also chose non-corrosive copper for plumbing and fixtures, as well as sink basins. “Well-built, well-cared-for homes can last hundreds of years,” he adds.