Kongtechnology.com

Heliotrope: Sustainable Solar Home that Generates More Energy than it Consumes

Posted: 28 Aug 2010 08:40 PM PDT

With talks of going green and environmental conservation, this house is just what we need. Generally solar powered houses have neither been the most efficient nor sustaining, but this rotating house might just change all of that.

German architect Rolf Disch has built a home, called Heliotrope, that is able to generate five times the solar energy that it consumes.

The way it does this is by rotating itself to follow the rays of the sun throughout the day. The structure features a 6.6 kWH solar panel (called the Sun Sail) on the rooftop that is able to rotate independently from the house to produce more than enough energy for the house to consume. The advantage this provides is 30 to 40 percent more energy generation than that of the traditional rooftop solar panels.

The balcony railings on the roof double as solar thermal collectors that act as water heaters and radiators. On a cloudy day, the house can be heated with wood chips and the solar thermal heating.

Technology within the house is also green, with waste water being re-used after going through a purification system, and rainwater is collected in a rooftop basin. Even human waste matter is turned into compost through the toilet system.

The architect himself lives within the prototype of the house and two other Heliotropes have been built to date, costing $2 million each.

Here is a video tour of the house. Unfortunately it is in German, so for those who don’t understand the language, make what you will of it.

Design wise, this isn’t the most aesthetic house I’ve seen, but with all the green technological advances that make up what the house is, I do think that this house can make a difference. Though something may have to be done about that steep pricetag to make it available for everyone.