HOM E SWEE T HO M E
Photos courtesy of Living Solar
HOME SWEET HOME Living Solar: Life on the sunny side For much of their life together, Eric Krieckhaus and Margaret Patterson taught math overseas, traveling the world one school at a time with their two children. So when it came time to plan their forever house, they had a particular vision: “The impetus was to make a home that was energy efficient, as much as possible, with the kids,” Krieckhaus says. “That’s where we started.” So they found their land on the west side of Durango, heading up Junction Creek. The whole family took time off from school to construct their home together, which they did using classic passive heating and cooling techniques. But even the most efficient modern home still needs power, and the city requires all homes to be connected to the grid. Maintaining their home’s spirit of responsible energy consumption inspired the family to connect with Ben Jason, founder and owner of Living Solar, to help their ener-
102 Durango Magazine Summer/Fall
By Zach Hively
gy needs match their motivations. “They reached out to me in the early stages, when they hadn’t even started construction or broken ground,” Jason says. “They asked me, ‘Do you think we can do this all electric with solar?’ And I said, ‘You can, with the right design.’” Jason has been helping families and businesses meet their energy needs since 1995, when he started his company in Durango. The family’s vision felt familiar to him; before founding Living Solar, he had built his own off-grid life on a piece of land in the Red Mesa area. “I was quoted an exorbitant amount of money to bring in utilities,” he recalls. “I knew there had to be a better way.” He started with a small wind turbine before adding some solar panels the following year. That led him to found Living Solar, which has now completed more than 500 installations in southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico.
With that kind of experience, Jason was more than prepared to design a net-zero electric system for Krieckhaus and Patterson. The world of solar has advanced from its earlier days when every panel needed to be angled southward at the perfect angle to harness the sun effectively, or at all. Jason was able to work within the constraints presented by the passive solar design (which was the top-tier consideration for the home’s construction) not only to power the house but also to charge the family’s electric car. And he has already planned how to augment the current system when the family decides to add another vehicle. Besides Jason at Living Solar, the family worked with builder Leon Martin at Mesa Builders, and architect Greg Madeen, to help bring their vision to reality – a lot of which the family did themselves. Krieckhaus estimates the
