By VICKI JOHNSON
Ohio Correspondent

TIFFIN, Ohio — Wind and solar power will be the main sources of electricity for Little Portion Green, a passive solar straw bale house project under construction on the grounds of the Sisters of St. Francis in Tiffin.

The Franciscan Earth Literacy Center (FELC), part of the St. Francis campus, is one of 15 recipients nationwide of a wind turbine from Southwest Wind Power, Flagstaff, Ariz., through the company’s Wind for Schools program. FELC also is acquiring a 16-kilowatt solar array.

“Both projects are integral to our education program,” said FELC Director Mike Conner. “We’ll use them in a variety of programming around energy and conservation, and living more harmoniously with creation.”

The renewable energy additions are the latest additions to the straw bale house project – also known as Project STRAW (Saving Today’s Resources in Awesome Ways). Ground was broken for the project in July 2010, but it started in 2008 with an educational series on renewable energy options. FELC, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Francis, is an environmental education center and demonstration facility designed to promote appreciation of nature and encourage sustainable living practices. Funded through grants, donations and volunteer labor, the project has been an educational experience for the FELC staff members and volunteers assisting with the entire construction process.
Ranging from interested adults to high school and college students, volunteers have helped with everything from wood frame construction and adding a roof, to stacking straw bales inside the walls and plastering over them. The first two phases are complete, and the interior work of the third phase is under way, said Sister Jane Omlor, project manager. “This is going to be a zero-energy house, which means we’re going to use energy but it’s going to be given to us by the sun and we won’t have any utility bills,” she said.

Designed by Mark Hober-echt of Columbia Station, a certified natural builder, the passive solar concept uses placement of the house and other criteria to make maximum use of the sun’s rays in winter and to shade the house from the sun in summer. “The reason we’re building it is to save energy,” Omlor said. “We’re creating a model, a demonstration facility where people can see what the future may look like and how they can install some of this technology in the house they are already living in.”

The house is modeled after passive solar houses being built in European countries. “Europe is on the cutting edge,” Omlor said. “I think that’s a real important thing. Europe has really made a commitment to building standards. We think it’s important to introduce it to northwest Ohio.”
And, not only there, but also the entire Midwest. The house will have 16 kW of solar panels mounted on the ground. “The house itself will be connected to the (electric) grid and will feed the grid and get credit when we need to draw (power),” she said.

There will be no furnace or an air conditioner, but the house will use an Energy Recovery Ventilation System.

“Both the builder and the architect are confident that it will keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer,” Omlor said. Landscaping will be “permaculture,” or usable and beneficial plants.

To raise funds toward its $100,000 goal, FELC received a donation of 300 bales of straw and sold them for $100 each. Omlor said donors are to be recognized in a “truth window” inside the house. Because it won’t be obvious the house is insulated with straw, the window opens to a view of the wall interior.
“There won’t be any windows on the west side, so we can put in a good-sized truth window,” Omlor said.

For more information, to donate online or to set up a tour, visit www.projectstraw.com – donations may be mailed to the Franciscan Earth Literacy Center, 194 St. Francis Ave., Tiffin, OH 44883, or call 419-448-7485 with questions.