Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995 TAG: 9510160037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Long
HOW WOULD YOU to like to wake up in a home that's just full of solar energy? For one design engineer, that's a reality; he'll be showing off his house on a hilltop today.
He used a topographical map - to find the best hilltop to maximize his exposure to the sun.
He found four acres nestled along a gravel road in the Valley View Hills section of Botetourt County. In 1992, he began building his unique split level, wood-frame house on a gentle slope.
Now, five days a week, he wakes as the sun peeks over the mountain ridges and hits the solar panels on his roof. He rises in a house heated by those panels, and showers with the hot water they produce. He then jumps into a car powered by golf-cart batteries to drive to his job as a design engineer in Roanoke.
Today, he and his wife, Teresa, will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Their house was one of 100 selected nationwide for the third National Tour of Independent Homes, an event that stresses the energy-saving benefits of sun, wind and water power.
Hanson, 39, says that energy conservation is a concern, but that his alternative energy plan just makes good economic sense.
"I've always been interested in being cost-effective," he said.
Hanson spent about $2,000 installing the solar heating system. His car costs 3.5 cents a mile to drive. That includes battery replacement. His total automotive power bill is about $24 a month.
Hanson did much of the work on his home himself to save money.
He built the solar panels by using copper tubing covered in black and soldered to roofing tin to attract and absorb solar heat. The eight panels on his roof are connected by plastic pipe to a 350-gallon water tank in his basement. The tank - which he found at a scrap yard - is encased in plastic foam for insulation.
With 18 years of experience in electronics circuitry, Hanson was able to build a computerized monitor to make sure he has enough hot water each day. If it's cloudy for several days in a row, he can resort to an electric heat pump for warmth. And he uses it in the summertime for air conditioning.
When the panels on the roof are 40 degrees hotter than the water in the tank, the computer signals two pumps in his basement to start moving water to the roof.
The water fills coils in the panels that are connected to one another by copper piping. As the water heats, it is pumped back to the tank in the basement.
When the temperature in the tank is within 10 degrees of the temperature on the roof, the pumps shut off and the water drains out of the coils.
The use of solar heat requires the house to have other features.
Large windows on the south side allow the sun's rays to heat the house more freely in daylight. And the tile on the floor is black so it will retain that warmth.
The concrete slab beneath is built on a layer of plastic foam to buffer it from the cold. The exterior walls were built using wider boards than in conventional houses.
Those features allow the house to have an insulation rating twice that of conventional houses. Hanson, who has lived in Colorado and North Carolina, warns that Virginia's wet soil negates much of the benefit of the plastic foam beneath the house.
Hot water for the house is produced a different way. Cold water from a well is pumped into the house and through 100 feet of copper coil submerged in the 350-gallon, solar-heated tank. By the time the water passes through the coil, it is heated to the right temperature for household use.
When Hanson is at home, his car, a converted GEO Metro, is plugged into a wall socket outside. Its 14 golf-cart batteries are energized by a homemade computerized charger he made from the components of a microwave oven.
The car can go about 30 miles on a single charge and has a top speed of 70 mph. Hanson has converted the car's fuel gauge to one that monitors electrons. He's talked his employer into letting him recharge at work, and he repays the company about $8 a month for the electricity he uses.
The primary danger of an electric car is that small animals don't hear you coming, Hanson said.
"I learned to beep my horn when I see them approaching the road," he said.
His neighbors don't seem to be particularly impressed.
"They seem to be indifferent to it," he said.
While he's anything but indifferent to his work, Hanson fails to see why anyone would finds his skills particularly inspiring.
"A monkey can focus on something 24 hours a day and get pretty good at it," he said.
As a grade-school youngster in Columbia, Md., Mark repaired television sets for his family's friends and neighbors. He said he first became interested in electrical circuits after he stuck a paper clip into a wall socket at age 4.
Hanson uses the precision of his engineer's mind - his father was a rocket scientist - on problems he has encountered with both his car and house.
Teresa Hanson, whom he married in June 1994, said she's learned a lot just living with him. She also jumped in early in their relationship and helped to finish construction of the house, which was completed in 1993.
"I'm not technical at all," she said. "He's just brilliant. He's very good at doing and building."
That's not to say that she's satisfied completely.
"The only thing I don't like is those flat black floors," she said. "They're hard to clean."
Mark Hanson said he tries to get away from the technical work sometimes to make sure he doesn't become one-dimensional.
He and Teresa, a social worker, go hiking, boating and skiing to give their lives balance.
"You can be smart at one thing and become an idiot socially," Hanson warned.
And as he whisks along the country roads with no radiator, no carburetor, and no exhaust fumes, he reflects on his life in the little house on top of a hill.
"Solar heating makes sense," he said. "Electric cars make sense. I've just been concerned about how to make them work."
by CNB