Welcome to FarrarGreenHome.org, the official site for Rhonda and Nigel Farrar’s Green Home and Sustainable Farm, located in Escondido, California.
The purpose of this site is to help others build green homes by sharing our experiences with you. We have learned a lot about energy efficient design and sustainable building during this process and want to help others live in a more sustainable way. We hope our home will be a model for green design and building and that our plans for a sustainable farm will be a model for local sustainable family farming. This site will be updated continuously as the home is designed and built and the gardens are planted. Your ideas and input are also most welcome.
Rhonda, a former analytical chemist, now an investment advisor and entrepreneur, and Nigel, a physicist and executive at a local company, both share a love for the environment and a passion for agriculture. The current Farrar Family Farm consists of an organic citrus grove surrounding their current home in Poway and the citrus crop is currently sold in organic grocery stores in the western states.
In March 2008, Nigel and Rhonda decided to build a new home with the goal of a net zero energy design, surrounded by a sustainable farm to provide a carbon neutral footprint. To do so, they have assembled a team of experts with the knowledge, creativity and know-how to achieve these goals. The design and building of the home and farm will hopefully be a model for collaboration with talented partners to create an extraordinary sustainable home.
The Farrar Green Home will host the California Association of Building Energy Consultants for their regional meeting.
Rhonda will be presenting the Farrar Green Home at the Building Industry Association meeting on Green Building. For more info, click here.
Check out the most recent story written by Bradley Fikes in the North County Times. Rain-delayed 'green' home nears completion.
SDG&E, AIA Palomar & CSI San Diego present a Green Home Tour at the Farrar Green Home under construction in Escondido. Click here to RSVP.
Mark you calendars for the "Slab Party and Green Open House" on Sunday, May 23rd. To join the fun, RSVP at rsvp@farrargreenhome.org for details and directions.
No it is not an April fool's joke! Check out the most recent story written by Bradley Fikes in the North County Times. CLOSER TO HOME: 'Green' dream house starts to materialize.
Breaking news - Ground breaking, that is! Construction began today!!! YAY!
Mission Valley Pools (www.mvpools.com) has been selected to build the Farrar Green Pool. Mission Valley Pools is renowned for their award winning pool designs and their expertise in energy efficient pools. What makes a pool green, you ask? The Farrar Green Pool will be a model of energy efficiency. This green pool will have a Swim Gym, (www.swimgym.com) which provides a current at the push of a button. This allows one to have an infinite lap pool, in a fraction of the space. The smaller pool needs less materials, less heating, and less water. The pool will have a retractable cover that will keep the pool clean and reduce evaporation. And the pool and spa will be heated using the same geothermal heat pump, powered by the solar panels, that will heat and cool the Farrar Green Home!
We have chosen a General Contractor! After considering 35 builders, speaking with 12, and inviting 4 excellent builders to bid on our project, we have selected Phil Gaitaud, Gaitaud Construction (www.gaitaudconst.com). Phil brings a wealth of experience building beautiful, high quality homes with an emphasis on thoughtful cost management. We are very impressed with Phil's work and the outstanding reviews he has from the homeowners for whom he has built homes. Two of Phil's current projects are on our street! We are delighted that he is in the neighborhood and expect that this will also reduce the carbon footprint of constructing our home.
North County Times, Bradley Fikes has written an article about finding water and installing the first component of our geothermal system for our green dream home. ENVIRONMENT: Water strike advances dreams of green home builders.
First installation of the new 300ft Kelix Thermocouple™ in So. Cal and one of the first 50 in the US. John Kidwell, inventor of the innovative Kelix product came from Oklahoma to oversee the 300ft ground loop system installed in the 300 ft. vertical hole. Everything went perfectly!
On the 4th day of drilling Tri-County Drilling found water at 650ft!! It looks like it will be enough water for the planned sustainable farm! YAY!!
Drilling for well water will begin on September 24th! Well water is important for the planned sustainable farm. If there is no water, the hole will be used for a ground source geothermal loop for the home’s heating and cooling system.
Nigel and Rhonda will be the first home in Southern California, and one of the first 50 in the US, to use the new Kelix™ Thermacouple™ Earth Energy System for their geothermal ground loop. This innovative product provides a significant improvement in heat transfer efficiency compared to traditional ground loops and requires half the drilling depth.