Happy Holidays Everyone!

May everyone have a safe and happy holiday season!

AB

12/21/2011--Earth Shelter is officially running on battery power!

(copyright Hybrid Home Guy Productions, LLC picture taken 12/21/2011)


Today the Earth Shelter Project Michigan officially switched off the generator power as its primary source of energy. Before I explain how the renewable energy system works on the Earth Shelter project, I must first mention what I was reminded of. Today is 12/21/2011, exactly one year from "2012". The Earth Shelter project is producing and storing its own energy well in advance of our original target dates. Thanks in part to a nice grant from the USDA! (thank you USDA).

There has been much talk throughout the last two years about why the Earth Shelter Project Michigan was built, why I dropped everything and headed north to lead the team that worked on it, and if I would ever be done with that project.

First off, the Earth Shelter project was built to be a sustainable farm for the homeowners. I agreed with their views in some ways. Most importantly, I think we are all already heading in a bad direction and that we should not worry about a specific date to prepare for. The Earth Shelter Project is a place for the homeowners to live life the way they feel safe. Raising and growing their own safe food and being off the grid. Hooray for them! I was so happy for them today as they prepared to have an informal family "off the grid party". Watching a movie powered by solar charged batteries and popping corn on their wood stove. How fun.

Why did I drop everything to build the project? At the time, I thought that I wanted to give up and quit being the Hybrid Home Guy, so much so that my dad (Uncle Rog) dropped everything in his life and came with me to make sure I was going to be ok. Over the past two years I realized why I took this project. One, because it is sooooo cool! Two because I love a good challenge and without listing a ton of reasons, third, I felt it would help us to forward our message of living a healthy sustainable life. I am a different person after two years, the Earth Shelter Project changed my life for the good....see, it is already changing lives and it isn't even completed yet!

Will we ever be done with the project? The answer is yes. At this time, I have signed on until Memorial Day 2012. After that, I, along with my new management team, have been reviewing a number of projects that we are interested in designing in building. If you have a neat project that you want us to take a look at, let me know. In a few weeks, I will let everyone know some big news on Hybrid Homes.

Let's talk about how the renewable energy system works on the Earth Shelter Project.

Check out the picture at the top of the page again. The solar array you see in the lower left corner of the picture is considered a 5,000 watt system. There is actually more wattage if you count the solar panels and times that by the wattage of each panel. For this explanation, consider the solar array to be a 5,000 watt system.

(you tracking? ok, good, let's continue)

The Earth Shelter is not connected to the grid at all, no way, never has been and never will be. That means that the solar array will only charge the battery system, not supply power to use as in a grid tied system. The solar array sends two 20 amp lines of power back to the mechanical room, which means there is a 40 amp service at the Earth Shelter. Most houses not a days have a 200 amp service. (side note: most houses in built in and before the 1950's had 40 amp electric services, and now most houses have 200 amp services. Kinda shows how things have changed, but I digress). Those two 20 amp lines in go through a series of devices that ultimately guide it to charge the battery bank.

OK, the battery storage system is a 48 volt DC system which consists of 24-2 volt Trojan renewable energy batteries. These batteries have a storage capacity of 2,000 amp hours of power. Is that good? Yes it is. I will explain in layman's terms. Consider this. Most of our hybrid houses that we built run on about 27 kWh of electricity per day. That is below the national average. The Earth Shelter battery storage system provides on the high side, about 35 kWh of power per day. We plan on the batteries providing about 24kWh of power per day because we can not fully drain the batteries nor do we want to tax the systems to its full extent. They have an optimal charge and out put range that we need to stay within. The homeowners and workers at the Earth Shelter will need to be very conscience of their energy use to avoid having the generator run.

Tracking still? I hope so. The point is, the renewable energy system is very powerful. You might be thinking; what about ovens, vacuum cleaners, dryers and other high energy using devices. The system has built in load limiters and load/draw adjustments. Currently, we have the system set to recognize the high energy draws at the Earth Shelter and once the system sees the need for a large amount of electricity, the generator automatically will turn on and shut off the battery storage system. When the generator is running, the system will use the generator's energy to charge the batteries if needed. The plan is to run the high energy sucking appliances on cloudy days to be sure that the generator is charging the batteries when the sun is not shining.

Its a very cool system! I am so excited to see this place be off the grid. When the generator shut off, everything went silent. My dad works with ear plugs in because of the noisy generator. After the noisy thing shut off, he was still shouting when he was talking. I simply said, "dude, it's quiet not, you can take out the ear plugs." When he pulled the plugs out of his ears, he said "wow." It was so quiet and great!

So that is what I know. I can't send a picture of the battery system, as there are some things in there not on the market yet and we don't want to ruin those companies' marketing campaigns that are part of this project. Let's just say, that it is very neat looking and very much in line with what cell phone towers are being equipped with.

Stay tune to this blog as I will post updates here until the Hybrid Home Guy fan page comes up on Facebook at the beginning of the year.

Also, check out www.hybridhomeguy.com for information on my book and our other media projects. (website will be up in January 2012)

Thank you all for you support, 2011 has been another banner year!

Adam

Off the grid

Today we poured the concrete that holds the four posts that will hold up the large PV solar array at the earth shelter project Michigan. By next Saturday, the batteries and solar panels will all be working. I will post a picture as soon as everything is installed. Wait until you see this latest picture. I am excited for 2012, stay tuned!

It is nice to work with a team member who has been with Hybrid Homes and Team Hybrid from the very beginning. Together we worked on some great projects and fought some tough battles. He has helped me to remember why we do what we do..

The world's largest residential earth shelter project is nearing completion and the best is yet to come! Stay tuned!

The solar panels have arrived to the Earth Shelter!

Here is a quick update on the Earth Shelter:

The 24 mono-crystalline PV solar panels arrived the other day to the Earth Shelter. That is about 6,000 watts worth of panels. They will be mounted on racks in the up coming weeks and then the entire Earth Shelter will be up and running using renewable energy. I will detail the system in greater detail in the coming weeks and the crew will film everything for all to see. What I can say now, is that we will have a 48 volt battery system and that the earth shelter will use as its main power source. The solar array will charge the batteries along with the generator when it has to run. The largest residential earth shelter in the world is not attached to the grid or any utility!

We are sending the raw HD video of the entire building of the Earth Shelter to the video production company next week to begin production of the for television documentary! Stay tune for more information...

Thank you to all the emails from the new fans and followers of what we do. It is a great start to the day to read emails from people who are becoming aware of the hazards around them with regards to food, where they live, and everything in between. Adding years to your life is as easy as being aware of the environment around you..

Save the environment doesn't just mean save the planet any more, think of yourself as the planet.....(remember this, you will see this again..)

Have a great day!

AB

Our newest company..

Hybrid Homes is nearing completion of the Earth Shelter Project Michigan. It has been a long two years of building the largest residential earth shelter project in the world. Hybrid Homes is preparing for another very exciting project which will be announced once we get everything in order and clear it with the powers to be. So, stay tuned for that!

Exciting news, is that we started a new company called 'Hybrid Home Guy Productions, LLC". What will this new company do? Stay tuned to this blog to find out.

My book is nearing completion and will be released to coincide with the earth shelter documentary which will air on PBS stations around the country sometime after March of 2012.

The two years of living in northern Michigan has been rewarding and has been a great rest period for me. I have more drive in me today than I did when I first started Hybrid Homes. I am feeling very healthy and am very excited to EXPLODE back on to the scene!

Stay tuned!

AB

What's new with me?

Hey everybody!

If you are on Facebook and follow what I do or post, then you will have noticed that I am no longer on Facebook. The biggest reason for this, is that I want to get back to the basics. Facebook is fun, but I also find it invasive. I used to use it for marketing and for a way to broadcast the videos that we shoot on our job sites. I found that Facebook is also a place for people to say vicious things because they don't have a life. My advice to most people on Facebook, is (and you can quote me on this), "GET A LIFE".

I keep reading reports that say Facebook is becoming a bad thing for people and their lives. Why would I run to the computer on a Sunday afternoon to see if someone commented on a post I posted instead of hanging out with my family? I don't think Facebook should be considered part of a sustainable life.

Enough of my rant. To view the videos that we shoot, simply go to my website: www.adambearup.com and click on videos on the home page. From there, you will find the earth shelter videos and anything else that we shot on video. The videos will no longer be on Facebook.

Will I ever return to Facebook? The book people will no doubt want to use social media to sell my book. At that point, you will be able to like me, but not be a friend. I think this is non-invasive. I can go for that.

If any of you are on Facebook, please post the link to this blog so that the word can get out on why I left Facebook. After you post it for a day or two, then I suggest that you also get off Facebook. Facebook was nice to keep in touch with people, but, let's be honest, how many of your friends on Facebook really are your friends?

Put your attention to your family and friends in real life! I have decided to spend time with people in real life and to stop staring at my computer. I will update this blog more often if you are interested in what I am up to.

Have a great day!

The FALL Schedule for the Hybrid Home Guy

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since my last post and there has been a lot going on in the world of the Hybrid Home Guy!

First off, I need to thank all those who love and support me because I could not do what I do without you all!

As many of you have known for a while, I have been writing a book about my experiences over the last several years with several green building techniques. This is not a memoir book, but rather, a book that the reader will be able to make their own decisions on which technology is better. I actually finished the book and sent it to the editor who sent it back saying that it lacked my passion because I wrote it more as a text book. That was the best comment ever! I have gone back and re-wrote this book in the first person view and it turned the book into an interesting read. Now the book will not only help owners and builders, but will now be an entertaining look to see what it takes to build an idea into an industry changing trend. As you will learn by reading this book, I did not do this alone. Lots of people and companies helped out along the way.

I am just about done putting the finishing touches on each of the chapters. The next step is for it to go back to the editor who will make it flow better and chop it up. He is the expert on how the book will read. After that, the manuscript will go to the illustrator who will bring the print to life through pictures and illustrations. I am fired up that we are very close to this point! I can not give out too many details about the marketing for this book because the marketers will be upset with me, but let's say that we will be using similar marketing techniques to those that we used to make Hybrid Homes a nationally recognized company in just two years. I am excited to have the team assembled that I do to get this book out there. As with my work in video and radio, the book is intended to spread a message, a message about living sustain-ably and lessening one's load on this planet.

I hope that the book will be printed by October first of this year. There is a great deal of work to do to get it to the stage where it can be printed. Once its printed, look out, because we are going to be everywhere with this book. We are expecting to tour nationally with this book in 2012......stay tuned!

The Earth Shelter documentary has got pushed from its original release date and that was my doing. I felt that the documentary would not end properly unless we showed the homeowners living in at least the house dome. The documentary team's intention is to get all the video that we have shot to Airworthy Productions, the producer of this documentary, within a month. The majority of the funding for this project will come from investors who have been on board with us from the beginning. After the documentary airs on television, we will enter it in several film festivals around the country and in some cases combine the book tour with this film festival tour.

I am excited to get this documentary done, as I have been talking about it for so long. We are hoping that this documentary catches the eye of other television people and thus use it as a pilot for a television show that I would host. There are so many possibilities! However, I constantly tell myself to not put the cart before the horse, so first things first. Step by step! The most important thing that I have learned recently is to NOT LOSE FOCUS!

On August 29th, 2011 at 10am, I will be making a return appearance on Shelley Irwin's morning show in WGVU morning radio. I am excited about this opportunity (as I am with everything else that is going on!) because it has been over a year and a half since I have been on her program. Back then, I talked about the new direction I wanted to take in life and also we talked about the Earth Shelter Project. How has this new direction in life treated me? Was it a good idea to fall off the radar for almost two years? What could I possibly be up to that I am so excited? The answers to these questions and more will be given on her morning show on August 29th! The one thing that I will say, is that we fully intend on winning every major national award with the Earth Shelter Project. I guarantee that there is nothing like it anywhere else in the country if not the world! This interview with Shelley Irwin is sure to be a great one, don't miss it!

But wait, there's more! I will be teaching a class on sustainable living at the Earth Shelter Project on September 17, 2011. This will be a class that has very limited seating. I mention it here because I want to make sure if you want to see this project first hand and see what we did up there in person, that you get your chance. The homeowner had originally told me that we would have an open house at the end of the project, that is no longer the case. She is ready to move in and start living at this amazing place and using it to teach students about living off the grid, and I don't blame her! If you are a builder, homeowner, student, enthusiast or someone who wants to be with a group of like minded people, call 989-773-3636 today to book your spot.

The cost for this class is $89. More than half of the proceeds for the price of admission will go to the Naturopathic Community Center which is where the crews stayed during the construction of the Earth Shelter Project. The director of the community center approached me to teach this class so that they could raise money to start a sustainability program at the center. I am excited to be part of the formation of this sustainability program. The remainder of the money will go to cover expenses and possible tasty, healthy treats! I promise that this class will challenge you to think outside of your normal thinking. The class will be held under battery power and I will show you how the entire place works and use chapters of my book as the outline for the class. Don't miss out on this opportunity, we will have a blast learning how to live a more healthy sustainable life! Call today to reserve your spot! 989-773-3636

For those of you who enjoy our trips to Washington State in search of Sasquatch and a more sustainable life, I just learned that we have booked another trip! There is much interest in how our friend Pam is doing as she lives in her completed Earth Shelter in Washington State. We will once again do some filming at Pam's earth shelter and rush the video back to see how it will fit into the documentary. We will make a short trip there at the beginning of October and bring the camera gear with us. The last time that we cruised around the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, we saw major Sasquatch sign, but never saw the Pacific Northwest Icon. I have a feeling this will be the year to see a Sasquatch! We need an interview with it so that we can start our "What Would Sasquatch DO" environmental campaign. One thing we will definitely showcase on video while we are on this tour is the incredible beauty of that area of the country and show people that through proper forestry we can grow our society without destroying this prime Sasquatch habitat. SO, before you throw that empty Starbucks cup out the car window, ask yourself, "What Would Sasquatch DO?" Stay tuned for the fun and learning that will come from this exciting return visit to the Pacific Northwest!!

I have been very busy consulting on several projects and teaching about green building. I will be returning from Washington State and driving from the airport directly to the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City to teach a large class about this "Green Revolution" that we are currently experiencing in this country. This class is three days long and is closed to the public. I mention this class because it is a great sign that more and more industries are concerned about educating their employees and contractors about living a healthy lifestyle. Some of the classes that I teach help educate the attendees about the motivations of people for making the choices they do when they buy products. This has been an exciting new direction for me and I am thrilled to be teaching in such a 'green' area of Michigan! Perhaps you will see me fishing in the area in the evenings after those classes. Be sure to say hi if you see me walking around town! If the book is printed by then, we will most likely line up a talk at a local bookstore or coffee shop in Traverse City. Keep your eyes peeled to facebook for updates!

Are you still with me? I will handle one more question then I will have to get back to writing the book. That question is, "With your busy schedule, do you intend on building anymore cutting edge hybrid homes in the future?" Well now, that is the question that many people are asking...for the answer, you will have to tune in to Shelley Irwin's Morning Show on WGVU radio at 10am on Monday August 29th!

What Would Sasquatch DO?

ADB

Exciting Developments at the Earth Shelter Project Michigan

Hello All!

Work continues at a steady pace at the Earth Shelter Project Michigan. We have been there working for nearly a year and a half now and there is finally an end in site! Being anywhere for 2 years of a person's life can be both challenging and life changing at the same time. I have lived in nearly every corner of the lower peninsula of Michigan over the past seven years and it has been so incredible to have met the people that I have. I thank everyone who took time out of their lives to make mine and my crews lives a little easier and more fulfilling while we lived life on the road!

Up at the Earth Shelter, we are nearly finished with the house dome and the homeowners have been moving their things into the massive pantries that we built. We have a few rooms to paint, a large Japanese soaking tub to build, and the cherry floors to install in the upstairs rooms, then it's done! Only four more domes to finish.

Recently, the weather allowed us to start installing the Velux Sun Tunnels at the Earth Shelter Project. The word 'WOW' is probably not a descriptive enough word for how much light those sun tunnels let in! They make the barn, which was dark as a cloudy night in the deep woods, look like day time! It's so bright in there! Temple Grandin taught us about how animals freak out as their eyes adjust from bright outdoor light to dark dimly lit barns. This 'freaking out' of the animals can cause serious harm to the handlers. Velux Sun Tunnels eliminated this phenomenon!

As you will see in a week or two on the hit Internet series, Earth Shelter Project Michigan, the flashing kits for the sun tunnels fit perfectly on the metal tops that we invented. This will be explained better in the video. I personally installed all of the sun tunnels so far so that I could see how that system would work. I was a little amped up to install the first one because I had no idea if it was going to work with the system that is concreted in place. But, it worked perfectly. I bent the sun tunnel flashing on our bender and it fit perfectly on the first try! I yelled wooo!

Recently, the Earth Shelter Team selected Nova Brik as the exterior of the Earth Shelter exposed wall. I lead this charge, because I felt that Nova Brik was the perfect compliment to the ICFs that were used on the exposed walls of the Earth Shelter. Nova Brik is a mortar-less brick system that installs quite quickly. More importantly, Nova Brik provides incredible strength to that exposed wall. When combined with our specially designed shutters, those exposed walls will be able to take a heck of a hit.

Stay tuned for an in depth look at how Nova Brik is installed and how it compliments the other aspects of the Earth Shelter Project. Given that we can be crazy from time to time, we are currently setting up a test area where we will try to destroy a Nova Brik wall.....oh boy!!

You can catch all of our Earth Shelter Videos at this link: http://vimeo.com/user2393100

Thank you all who keep in touch and keep us motivated. What's next after the Earth Shelter Project? Well, our team is currently setting up a national tour to coincide with the release of the Earth Shelter Documentary and the book that I am writing. I am currently discussing several projects with clients, but the ultimate project that Hybrid Homes will build next will have to be one that continues to push the limits and challenges us. It must be a project that has the ability to keep people interested and thinking. We have a long way to go to get people to think more about their environments, but we definitely have made some progress...stay tuned, things are just getting started!!

Think local,

Adam-"The Hybrid Home Guy"

Hybrid Homes, LLC

Hybrid Homes is re-working its website, so if you go to the website, you may be re-directed to www.adambearup.com. This is temporary as we build our new website. The current website is taken down because of some of the information on the website is outdated and we feel that we can no longer feel good about some of the information that is on that website.

The new Hybrid Homes website will be geared more towards information and showcasing the different styles of building that Hybrid Homes has built over the last 7 years. Hybrid Homes' mission has and will always be to build cutting edge houses that are ahead of the curve and to never become complacent. The new website will be more inline with that mission.

As they say, pardon our dust!

State of the State of Hybrid Homes

It is 2011 and with that brings another great year to grow and prosper.

With the help of my management team and mentors, we decided in 2010 to take a different direction with Hybrid Homes. Ultimately, this had a great effect for the other builders who were waiting for Hybrid Homes to step off the fast lane. They are now handling the work that Hybrid Homes passed on and we couldn't be happier. I hope they find the joy in it that I did and that they are doing it for more than just the money that comes along with it..

The goal of Hybrid Homes from the beginning was to change an industry that was refusing to change. We helped create a demand for a greener home and the fact that other builders have stepped up to build a greener home is a major accomplishment for everyone that took part in this wild adventure.

Hybrid Homes is still alive and kicking, but with the taxes that small business is forced to pay in Michigan, we have found that we can have a wider impact through nationwide consulting and building cutting edge homes. Homes that are always ahead of the curve. The result has been very favorable on Hybrid Homes debt load, which was increasing by the day due to a number of variables.

Hybrid Homes saw a friend and fellow team member go out of business. We saw that same possibility for us here, but we were able to pull back on the reins, and keep control of our business with no customers getting hurt or losing money. I am happy to report, that our time on the Earth Shelter Project has allowed the company to fight its way back into a positive situation.

It is safe to say, that Hybrid Homes will never return to building multiple homes at once. That was never in our business plan, and is something that happened as a result of me not being able to say no. Also, there was a lot of pressure on the business to keep the subs working and others who were finding it hard to get work without Hybrid Homes drumming up the work.

The goal for Hybrid Homes was and will always be to build the most cutting edge houses for the advancement of the industry. The goal has never been to make everyone else happy, only to build homes to gather research on.

Hybrid Homes began as a company that was to gain research from each house it built. That happened. Every house that was and is built by Hybrid Homes has extensive journaling and reports on them as to how they perform and what it took to build them. This information is currently being compiled into a book so that everyone can have this information.

The videos that my team has put together on the Earth Shelter Project Michigan have been viewed by people in 77 different countries around the world and by tens of thousands of people each month. The move to create a documentary of the Earth Shelter Project Michigan began many months ago and is going well. We are moving into the post productions stage. Hybrid Homes is not part of this venture, only me and the production team.

The question that I get asked quite a bit is: "Will Hybrid Homes build any more homes?" As leader of the company, I would love to give a definate yes, but I really can't at this point because I am not sure how busy my team will be as we consult around the country and make a move to get on television. I am actively seeking a new management team to run Hybrid Homes and that would give us an answer of yes, we will build more homes.

It will be very tough to top the Earth Shelter Project. Projects like these do not come along very often, and since we are pouring everything we have into this project, I am afraid that I won't be able to find a project that will push me to the limits like this project has. I have many oppurtunities in life and after putting up with what I have over the last 5 years, the thought of putting myself back into a bad position is not very alluring.

There were several rumors flying around about me. Some are true and some are not, I encourage anyone who has a question about any of the rumors to email me and I will set the record straight. The best thing that I ever did was get off the fast lane and 'disappear'. I predicted that the press and impact of the Earth Shelter Project would be ten fold of what it was for the Onekama Project. The impact has already been incredible and on track to be the most ground breaking and incredible residential project ever. Secretly, we are building the company up to handle the the impact of when we release the Earth Shelter Project to the public. We will enter this project in for awards, and better yet, there will be opportunities to come to the Earth Shelter Project to see why I have changed my thought process on sustainability. It's not just a home, or recycling, its everything. The Earth Shelter Project will introduce people to the term 'symbiosis' and why this term is so important to a sustainable life. Stay tuned..

Thank you to everyone who continues to follow our progress. I had the best year of my life in 2010 and I am doing all I can to have a better year in 2011. I wish everyone success and that you may find symbiosis in your own lives...