Pam Burton and Jeremy Smithson, the owners of Puget Sound Solar are passionate about sustainability and each year, they look forward to opening their home to the community during the NW Green Home Tour to help inspire others to “green-up” their homes.
The 2020 Northwest Green Home Tour was held virtually instead of in-person so we’re posting our videos from the tour so people can still learn about this Net-Zero home.
About the house –
Pam and Jeremy’s home was originally built in 1908 and they purchased it in 1997. Over the years, as part of their effort to mitigate the use of fossil fuels, Pam and Jeremy have upgraded most of the homes major systems – to create the first International Living Building Future Institute certified remodeled Net-Zero home in Seattle. The home consumes no fossil fuels and is powered exclusively through renewable energy.
Join Pam and Jeremy as they showcase different parts of their home and sustainable lifestyle in these short videos and/or view their entire Green Home Tour presentation at the link provided below.
Introduction – Pam and Jeremy welcome you to their 1908 home.
Journey To Net Zero – Jeremy discusses how insulation, windows, reclaimed materials, hydronic heating all contributed to the Net-Zero certification by the International Living Building Future Institute. (This was the first certified Net-Zero remodeled home in Seattle!)
Chickens – Listen to Pam discuss several benefits of living with chickens in the city.
Solar – Passive solar, solar thermal, solar photovoltaics plus a battery backup system powers and heats this home, even during power failures!
If you’re interested in getting a FREE quote for your solar project, please fill out our contact form and we’ll get in touch to see how we can help.
Bees – Did you know you can rent bee’s for your garden? Pam shares why she rents Leaf-Cutter and Mason bees for her garden.
Composting In Seattle – Pam, former Director at Seattle Tilth, discusses how to use common kitchen scraps and other biological sources to build compost for her garden.
Urban Farming – Pam shows how reframing one’s thinking about outdoor spaces can result in an abundant food harvest.
Rainwater Catchment – Increasingly, water is recognized as a valuable and limited resource, even here in the Pacific Northwest. Harvesting rainwater increases the amount of hydropower available to farmers and electric power generation.
View one entire 2020 NW Green Home virtual tour session with Pam and Jeremy and all the preceding sections here –
Thank you to the EcoBuilding Guild and the Northwest Green Home Tour for organizing a way to connect “green” homeowners virtually.
Please support the 2020 Green Home Tour Sponsors – Green Home Solutions, Dunn Lumber, Mighty House Construction, 475 High Performance Building Supply, King County Green Tools Program and Pathway Design and Construction.
Some of the products or resources mentioned by Pam and Jeremy –
- Rent-A- Bee – https://www.rentmasonbees.com and to learn more about basic beekeeping, check out this blog post – https://roomforinspo.com/beekeeping
- Sustainable Ballard – https://www.sustainableballard.org
- Ballard Re-Use – www.ballardreuse.com
- Second Use – www.seconduse.com
- Outback Power – http://www.outbackpower.com
- SunPower – https://us.sunpower.com
- International Living Future Institute Case Study – https://living-future.org/lbc/case-studies/journey-to-net-zero
- Compost Bin – Garden Gourmet brand, (model no longer manufactured).
If you’d like to learn more about a particular feature, please contact Stu Frothingham at sfrothingham@pugetsoundsolar.com
#ecofriendlybuilding,#greenbuilding,#sustainablebuilding,#greenhomesinseattle,#greenhometour
