the eco-building geek community

This past Sunday we had an open house, inviting friends and neighbors and friends of friends come and see the eco-addition we built on the back of our house. 18 inch walls and triple layer Windows, tapes to be airtight with special tape all the way from Europe. We had a small but respectable stream of interested friends and neighbors show up and share some crackers and cheese with us. What makes this event something to write home about is that those who came were the tip of an iceberg of eco-housing geeks.

I'm not a builder by trade, nor architect, nor city official, I don't run an eco-business and I'm not even that good at getting to green fairs or eco-events. Although I often consider myself to be only distantly connected to the eco-building community of Ann Arbor, the reality is that I'm more a part of that community that I often notice. Sure there are people I don't know whom I would love to know, people like Matt Grocoff of Greenovations TV,  Wayne Appleyard chair of the city energy commission. But I to know a number of interesting eco-housing and energy advocates. 

I was amused by some of the juxtapositions of visitors for the open house. People who knew each other seemed to have a knack for showing up at the same time.  

Some of the eco-geeks who came to my open house include: my brother-in-law who lives just off of North territorial has the largest tracking solar array in the state of Michigan. He and his father's efforts were instrumental in getting net metering in Michigan. My friend who has been experimenting with solar and wind energy about as long as anyone in Washington County came by but never got to tour the house because he became so engaged in conversation with friends he recognized, and then he had to go to work. he is married to my friend and architect consultant, one of the only passive house certified architects in Michigan. I know two Jim who coincidentally showed up at the same time, one who has a decent array of solar panels on his roof, the other has for countless years been  involved in putting together a super insulated, carefully thought out, and built to endure house three blocks from me. That house has certain similarities to my structure. My friend who builds houses to extend the growing season Michigan also showed.

Beyond those who came to my open house, there are others in this community who I know and have connections with. I have a neighbor who is a leed certifies, another neighbor is an urban planner, and yet another neighbor is the director of the ecology Center. When I visited the B Green store looking for a counter I ran into a former co-op mate of mine. And the list goes on.

The green building community is an old patchwork quilt. Each of us are loosely stitched together to a handful of other squares. Our town has innovators, entrepreneurs, experts, advocates, builders, architects, do-it-yourselfers like me, and leading-edge thinkers on green building and eco-energy. At least that's how it looks to me. I know there are those who are much more centrally involved. Their picture of the community may be much different.