THIS MONTH’S HOME TOUR ! !
2025 Solar Tour in KC Metro Area
November 8, 2025 starting at 10AM
Fill out a registration form today!
Kala Homes – a Passive House in Liberty, MO
…Address sent a week before event!
This house is an unusual opportunity to tour a custom home that will be certified as a Phius Core 2021 building. Passive house is the world’s most stringent energy efficiency standard and requires both design and field validation before receiving final certification. The added benefits include superior durability, excellent indoor air quality, and improved occupant comfort. This home also has a ~11 kWh rooftop solar array that, coupled with the low energy requirements of passive house construction, results in a true net-zero building in terms of energy for operations. This home represents the pinnacle of energy efficiency.
The builder will be on hand to show off the energy efficient features of the home the day of the tour.
Please join us to tour this home under construction!
Fill out a registration form today!
HRES 2025 Solar Tour in Lawrence, Kansas
October 11, 2025 at 10AM
Fill out a registeration form today!
Site 1. Haven Studio [10AM]
…located at 3813 Greenway Drive, Lawrence KIS 66046
Dirt Works Studio (3nd year KU architecture program class) constructed this Solar decathlon
photovoltaic – passive solar – studio in 2023 as part of the Department of Energy solar decathlon
contest. The students designed and built the building. The studio highlights a number of features
including: photovoltaics, passive solar, energy efficient building methods, low impact
development, EV solar charging station and more! The Haven Studio is located just north of K-
10 in eastern Lawrence.
Site 2. … [11 AM]
Details are still being worked out.
Future meeting
Save the date for Kansas City metro solar tour. Saturday November 8. Passive house with
photovoltaics in Liberty. Details to come at later date.
Fill out a registeration form today!
March 2025 Virtual Workshop
Kelly Gilbert Presents an Update on MEC Programming
Presented by: Kelly Gilbert, Executive Director of MEC
Link To View a Recording of Kelly Gilbert’s Presentation
Kelly Gilbert, Ex. Director of MEC
HRES October 2024 Virtual Workshop
In-Person Solar Home Tour of Melton Residence
Melton residence in Parkville, MO
- 22 solar photovoltaic panels. Each panel near 400 watts. Near net zero for summer usage.
- 10 panels facing near east.
- 12 panels facing south west.
- Grid tied inverter.
- Utility is Evergy.
- Production started this summer.
- A retrofitted home to be a high performance. Previous features in HRES you-tube session April 2023.
- Converted to all electric home.
- Attic insulation replaced and upgraded.
- Blower door tested to find and reduce air infiltration.
- Installed a high-efficiency heat pump
- Added an ERV for fresh air exchange
- And more.
HRES Presents Music by Soular
Craig Wolfe Presents an Environmental Musical Journey
Join This Musical Journey with Past HRES President Craig Wolfe
Our Zoom workshop on April 27 will be, well, a little unusual. In our youth, one way we were inspired to care about the Earth was through music. Our own Craig Wolfe was so inspired that he wrote music for his 5-piece band Amdahl Wolfe in the 70’s.
He continued writing and playing his environmental and other tunes in his duo Soular from 2012 to the present (and sometimes a 4 piece band and studio work). Craig also became well versed in his home-grown studio to make recordings of his tunes.
So, on April 27 we will listen to and watch Craig’s music videos of his own original environmental tunes, and talk with Craig and Randy Deutch, the bass player for Amdahl Wolfe and Soular.
Here are some of the titles we will see and hear: Hope Of Man, Take It Back, Joanna, You Better Worry, Book of the Heart, Solar Prayer, Please Take Your Devil, The Last Journal Entry, Stand Up, and Hang My Head Down.
Oh, and plug in your good speakers and head phones!!
