This tiny solar house was designed and built by the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society. I found them on Facebook not long ago and wanted to share their tiny home with you because it has three Silicon Energy PV modules, solar air heat, and even solar hot water.
The SIP (Structural Insulated Panels) came from The Chuba Company who you can also find on Facebook. If you’re not familiar with SIPs, check out this post. A company called Applied Energy Innovations also helped with the construction of this tiny house. It’s 8′ x 16′ and has additional storage in the back to store power with batteries. There’s also extra room there for hot water storage and any other extra systems.
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Tiny Solar House on Wheels: Passive Solar Designed THOW Built with SIPs by Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
This solar tiny house was made possible thanks to Laura Cina, Joel Cina, Chris Burrington, Timothy Pendergast, Larissa Starr Maranell, Andrew Steven Richardson, The Chuba Company and Applied Energy Innovations.
Please enjoy the rest of this tiny home below:
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Below are the SIP panels going up which already come super insulated. What a great way to build a house, right? You just got to have some help!
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Again, the SIP panels going up thanks to the help of three people.
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
They used a forklift to get the SIP roof panels on.
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Finally, the house wrap to keep the structure moisture tight.
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Below you can see that almost all of the siding is done but the roof still needs to be finished.
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Nice work everybody!
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
Below is the tiny house all finished and on display.
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
I like how it looks better with the trailer and wheels showing.
Photo Credit Minnesota Renewable Energy Society
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Sources:
- http://www.facebook.com/aeimn
- http://www.facebook.com/MNrenewables
Alex
It’s about time someone showed their tiny home powered by the sun!
I have been using a 480 watt solar and 400 watt wind turbine to power my cabin for years and costs for equipment have come way down to about $1 a watt.
Using energy efficient appliances a 500 watt system will run all your gadgets, lights, water pump and a small fridge.
I would have recommended one of the vacuum tube solar water heaters instead of the panel heater it looks like they are using.
I would also suggest an addition solarium porch and solar air heaters for passive solar heating.
With the right setup you can easily and afford-ably have a net zero off-grid tiny home.
SIPS make sense for small structures and you can build your own using foamcore board covered by wafer board and 2×4 brace on the side/ends.
SIPS reduce overall weight in walls and bridging transfer of heat and cold so improves efficiency.
SIPS cost a little more to build but make up for it in savings on heating/cooling and quicker construction time.
LaMar
LaMar
Cool building method but don’t like OSB. Pat
If your interested in touring the Tiny Solar House visit http://www.ElkRiverMN.gov/EnergyCity and request a tour! The house will be in Elk River, MN for the winter and the City would love you show you around!
Very nice thank you for sharing!
I would like to see the INSIDE of this tiny solar house…or is it empty? Thnx!
Yes, I would like to see what kind of living arrangements are on the interior too. As it is, it is just a cool looking solar box.
Me three. I was very disappointed that there weren’t any interior pictures.
this is near me! I haven’t even heard of it until now. I’d like to see the inside as well. I wonder if it’s even done yet.
They also said one of their goals was to have someone live in it and blog about it but I don’t know if they are doing that yet. That would be very cool.
There is also an aluminium clad s.I.p. that we use here in Florida.That panel is lighter and can be connected as strong as the osb and it’s more resistant to the elements.
Thanks for the share. This is quite an intriguing design.
can they build 1 for me if I order one? building something isn’t my area of expertise
SIPS are a demonstrably unsustainable and toxic building system. A chemical soup to breathe in and that burns fast and deadly. Solar PV is only considered netzero if you take out the fact that pv panel production produces one of the deadliest compounds known to man.
You are far wiser to buy an old airstream and do a proper eco renovation.