Sunny Taos New Mexico is a progressive community when it comes to creative and resourceful ideas on how to power a home.  Our own famous Mike Reynolds began in the 70's building his "Earthships" out of tires filled with rammed earth, walls made of aluminum cans and beer bottles and those famous slanted South facing windows.  Reynolds designed homes entirely "off the grid", or independent of conventional electrical sources.  His roofs collect rain water to be stored in cisterns, and recycled drain water flows into indoor planters which produce fruits and vegetables for their hosts.  Powered by solar panes and wind generators, and heated primarily by the sun, these homes burn minimal amounts of wood and propane to supplement heating on winter evenings.  Artistically designed, these homes include curvaceous interior adobe mass walls  to soak up heat and hold it in the home's interior. 

Home design has come a long way since the 70's, and although many of Taos' local builders haven't included solar collection systems in the spec homes they built, the tide is turning toward more efficient designs as buyers begin to request them. 

We live in a conventional home with many solar features which relieve us of huge energy bills each month.  Click on the link to read an article I wrote for the Vista Linda Neighborhood Newsletter which describes our solar home.  Our house has been featured three of the past 6 years on the Taos Solar Home Tour, which usually falls in October each year.  In a year, our house burns about 1/3 of the propane compared to our neighbors.  As propane rivals gasoline prices, those bills can become significant in the cold weather months.