- This web site has been created entirely with solar and wind power -
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- full screen image -
BUILDING PROJECTS - listen to our "theme song"
- NEW STRAW BALE HOUSE
- 1200 square foot greenhouse
- RETROFITTING AN OLD TIN SHED INTO A GUEST HOUSE
- plastering with lime stucco
- STAINING PLASTER WITH FERROUS SULFATE
- building a simple straw bale storage room
- MAKING WALL PARTITIONS WITH CLAY AND CHOPPED STRAW (COB)
- installing radiant floor heating in both the straw bale house and mobile home
- INSULATING AND STUCCOING OUR MOBILE HOME
- new polyurethane foam roof for our mobile home
- SUGGESTED PLANS FOR A SMALL "STARTER" STRAW BALE HOUSE OR GUEST HOUSE
- Photo Gallery of House Construction
RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS
- solar electric (PV) system
- RAIN WATER HARVESTING
- wind generator
- SOLAR COOKING and MINDY'S MUNCHABLES
- solar hot water system with hot water radiant heating
IDEAS
- GOOD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
- "How to Achieve Self-sufficiency"
- SAVING ENERGY - TIPS FROM MINDY
- some great environmental quotes
BUDGET
- OVERALL COSTS
- COSTS OF INDIVIDUAL BUILDING PROJECTS
GRAB BAG
- JIM'S RECORDER MUSIC LISTENING PAGE
- our African Pygmy Goats - meet Vern and Raven
- SONORAN DESERT WILDLIFE
- killer views from Solar Haven
- PROBLEMS TO AVOID IN BUILDING YOUR OWN HOUSE
- articles by Jim Phypers
- COMMANDER GHOST'S VERY OWN HOME PAGE
- just "for fun" foto album
- RETROFITTING AN RV WITH A HOT-WATER HEATING SYSTEM
WHO WE ARE
- A LITTLE ABOUT US
- our three minutes on the soap box
- MEET OUR VOLUNTEERS - A PICTURE GALLERY
- comments in the media about Solar Haven
- JIM AND MINDY IN VERACRUZ, MEXICO: 2008 VIDEO BLOGS, 2007 BLOGS, 2006 TEOCELO BLOGS
A MAJOR CHANGE IN DIRECTION:
For reasons primarily related to Jim's health but also for financial reasons,
Jim and Mindy Phypers have moved to Veracruz, Mexico.
Solar Haven has now been sold.
We are making videos of our life in the small rural town in Mexico where we live.
Please visit our channel on YouTube to view them:
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The Phypers
Family

Jim
and Mindy

"Ty"
(German Shepherd-Great Dane mix - guessing)

"Commander
Ghost"
Here's what I do when on duty at the
"Solar Haven Desert Pack Rat Patrol"
Would I a house for happiness erect,
Nature alone should be my architect,
She'd build it more convenient than great,
And doubtless in the country choose her seat.
- Horace, 20 B.C.
Try using the search engine below to find specific things you are looking for...
our site contains 90 separate web pages,
approximately 400 photographs and diagrams,
and considerable technical information.
Custom Search
First we purchased four acres in the Sonoran Desert foothills west of Tucson.
There was no house and also no road or water or power,
but incomparable natural beauty, quiet, and peacefulness.

"On
a clear day you can see forever..."
.
The first steps were to grade in a road, dig a septic system, and move in a mobile home as a temporary residence. Then we began working toward converting the mobile home into an energy efficient, attractive, and comfortable place to live.
We added...
- extra insulation to all the outside walls, the roof, and underneath the floors.
- we had the place completely stuccoed.- we also built a front deck, carport, and storage shed...
At the same time...
we worked toward self-sufficiency and independence from conventional utilities...
(err... it would have been better had we not tried to do all these projects at once),
Solar Hot Water and Hydronic Heating System
"Yikes,
here comes a bunch of materials to build the
GREENHOUSE"
("Who planned all these projects anyway?!")
A
grand greenhouse emerges from the desert...
("It
didn't look that big in the drawing...")
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Take
a break...
SOME
GREAT
ENVIRONMENTAL QUOTES
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After two years of...
- blood (the usual cuts and scratches),
- sweat (golly gee, it really does get hot in the desert),
- and tears (of exhaustion and frustration and of joy),
we begin construction on a new and permanent home.
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Click HERE for pictures of all phases of construction including:
- design details
- floor plan diagram
- a complete budget of what the house is costing
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Perhaps the best part of all ...
was the remarkable beauty of our
Sonoran Desert home.

So many interesting neighbors

introduced themselves.
-
Sonoran Desert wildlife -
SOLAR
HAVEN MASTER PLAN
(how
it all lays out on the ground)
PHASE 1: research - planning - buying land
PHASE 2: building our house - working toward energy independence
PHASE 3: organic gardening - raising animals (for eggs and perhaps for milk, for the valuable manure to use in the garden, and for companionship - but NEVER to kill and eat)

OUR
FRIEND - THE SUN !
1 - Generates electricity to light our house and run its many gadgets
(stereo, computer, coffee maker, microwave, vacuum cleaner, power tools, etc.)
2 - Powers our S.L.C.D.D. ("Solar Linear Clothes Drying Device" -- patent pending)
3 - Keeps the air warm in our greenhouse to grow vegetables and herbs year round
4 - Heats water in our "Thermomax" Hot Water Heating Unit to provide all the domestic hot water we need and also all the water needed for the radiant heating system in the floors to heat our house
5 - Cooks our food using a "Global SunOven"
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6 - Heats water in the portable "solar shower"
7 - Our friend the Sun also saves us a lot of money each month as we have no electric bills or gas bills.
8 - And makes us happy!
Post
script...
"For
eighteen years now we have been enjoying cooking our dinners
with the power
of the sun..."
Visit Mindy's solar cooking web
site:
" Sun Ovens Are Wonderful"
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At the end of the day,
and in the morning too,
the Arizona desert puts on a show like nothing we
have ever seen.

- enlarge -
Monsoon
rain storms
during July and August
are awesome.

- enlarge -
THANKS
!
To
the special folks who have helped with Solar Haven:
Ann and Ron Serandos, Joanie McNiece, Rick Frazier and Andiron, Warren Luzon at "Northern Arizona Wind and Sun", Rod Hyatt at "In Hot Water and Heating", John, Marilyn, Jason, and Roger at "Sun-Southwest", Art and Katherine Jacobson, Dennis Williams, Tina Monaghan and Jake, Rette and Rick, Lyndol Michael, Shay, Christine and Lacy, Ben and Maria, Kristen and Shannon, Paula Young, Manadeva, Mike McWilliams, Zack and Liz, Yoshi, Marsha and Sarina, Paul Huddy, Michael Smith, Tom, Janna, and Annette, Loreen McDonald, Wil and Mai, Clay Springer, Jan and Dee, Kara, Sam and Cassandra, Ajay and Bev Sutton, Amber, Steve and Ken, Owen, Penelope, Charlie Liu, Trish, Jordan, Josee, Dan, Simon
- pictures of all our voluteers -

©
2000-2009 by Jim Phypers