From an article by Kim Palmer in the Star Tribune, St. Paul, MN:
A doctor’s passion for sustainability inspired him to build what may be the most energy-efficient home in the Midwest.
Dr. Gary Konkol’s new house has lots of cool modern features. But the coolest, most modern thing about it might be the feature it lacks: a furnace.
This will be Konkol’s first winter in the house, but he’s not worried about keeping warm. “I make more energy than I need,” he said. “Even on the coldest, cloudiest day in January, I’ll use the equivalent of two handheld hair dryers.”
His house, which sits on a wooded cul-de-sac in North Hudson, Wis., looks starkly contemporary next to its traditional suburban neighbors. But beneath the surface, it’s truly radical: the first certified passive solar house in Wisconsin and one of fewer than a dozen nationwide.