Green Living Tour Saturday in Fairfield area

Worried about increasing energy costs? Want sustainability but don't know where to start?

This weekend's Green Living Tour, organized by Southeast Iowa Sierra Club, will provide inspiration, ideas, and the opportunity to meet some local homeowners and learn from their experiences. Houses on tour will be open to the public this Saturday afternoon, Oct. 15, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. Five homes are in the Fairfield area, the sixth is in Salem.

The Salem house, at 202 West Oak St., is an example of a traditional aging-in-place home (about 1,300 square foot footprint), all-electric and built for high energy efficiency. It includes solar panels, a heat pump, and energy-saving appliances — most of the items now available for tax credits or rebates. For questions or directions, contact Mary Hoyer at hoyer.netzero@gmail.com.

North of Fairfield are two innovative homes by experienced designers. The Mulleneaux house, at 1886 185th St., is 900 square feet, with superior insulation, a 300-square foot attached greenhouse and a tiny guesthouse. It features plug-and-play solar electricity with an Ecoflow battery, inverter, and controller.

The Lipman House, home of architect Jon Lipman, is at 1971 Sunrise Drive (off Kelp south of 185th) is 100% off-grid for both water and energy. Highly insulated, it uses passive solar heating and solar panels, augmented by a clean-burning wood stove for winter.

The Hirshberg House is in Fairfield, at 1000 Walton Road. (Joel Hirshberg is the founder and CEO of Green Building Supplies.) The home has energy-efficient appliances, passive solar heating, solar attic fans, nontoxic materials and paint, and clay plaster walls. It incorporates an east entrance, cross-ventilation, wide overhangs, natural lighting, and outdoor living spaces.

The other two homes included are remarkable for their exciting and beautiful yards. Deanna Julsen's yard, at the southeast corner of Kirkwood and E Street (park on E), is full of flowers; in-season, sold from a human-powered bicycle flower cart. The home contains a 5.5 kW solar array and rain barrels. Other features include shade sails that make the outdoors usable on hot sunny days. Gloria and Murray Foster's garden at 2005 Radiance Circle (adjacent to MIU) is a small yard with an astounding variety of plantings and features such as a rain barrel irrigation system, a vermiculture setup, a greenhouse, compost, fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and perennials.

The Southeast Iowa Sierra Club is a group of local people seeking to help our community to better understand, appreciate, and protect nature. They are working to find ways to mitigate climate change, transition to renewable energy, restore our forests, waterways, and prairies, and to reduce waste.