This aerial shot from the north shows the millrace adjoining the house and barn, along with the South Branch of the Raritan River just across the roadway.

This aerial shot of the main building from the south shows the electrical trenching along the driveway for the site-lighting conduit. The full winter sun falls evenly on the roof surfaces. The buildings' orientation is ideal for generating photovoltaic electricity.

Just 4 miles south of Long Valley on Route 513, this farm complex now contains three buildings with photovoltaic panels. The barn (foreground), the garage and the cottage combine to hold 142 panels at 100 watts output each for a total of 14.2 kilowatts.

The cottage's "on-demand" water heater is a 40-amp electric unit. This will back up the solar hot-water heater (from Solargenics) stored in a 50-gallon insulated R-20 tank from Rheem.

The flow center for the 3-ton geothermal unit by WaterFurnace is set in the cottage.

The cottage inverters convert the photovoltaic direct current output to a usable alternating current. The conversion causes a slight energy loss.

This Manabloc distribution center controls the cottage's domestic water supply. Hot and cold water lines are all a "home run" to their point of destination at a faucet or fixture and can be shut off here for service.

Master technician Chris from Integrity Heating & Air Conditioning seals all duct joints and screw holes to maximize airflows before closure of the walls.

After three weeks of use, the photovoltaic panels on the cottage and the garage are at minus-72 kilowatt-hours on the meter. All of the construction activity of halogen lights, power saws, compressors and a shop radio together with a lighted Christmas tree in the front parlor didn't use enough electricity to keep up with the output of this design, and the balance flows through the net meter back onto the grid. The building operates as a residential power plant!

The PEX tubing connects to the Manabloc distribution center in the main house.

Ken Lutz and Joe of VanNatta Mechanical review the plumbing inspector's comments.

Steel anchor pins are drilled into the concrete pad.

A field technician from Integrity Heating & Air Conditioning charges the geothermal lines with an antifreeze mixture. The geothermal flow center is wired and ready for operation. The red and blue lines are PEX domestic water supplies terminating at the Manabloc water-control center. Several thermo-wells monitor the temperature of the lines in a Web-based monitoring system.

Tie-down rods are secured for the Cromaglass waste-treatment unit #CA-15.