The more remote your location, the more attractive solar and wind energy generation become.

As Grunau toured his home, a theme quickly emerged: Warm and tightly-insulated building envelopes are the key to reduced fuel use.

“So, we did that to the extreme,” Grunau said. The 2-foot thick Arctic Walls were specially designed, alongside a super-insulated roof and flooring. The windows are triple-paned, insulated with argon gas.
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The takeaway, Grunau said, is that insulation is key to efficiency.

The need is also clear: The average home in Fairbanks spends $8,106 annually on energy. The average Anchorage home spends only $2,786, according to the assessment.
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Two energy systems work in tandem to heat the house. Along the main facade of south-facing windows, six solar thermal panels collect solar energy. The heat is then stored in a 2,500-gallon underground tank, and the hot water runs through coils beneath the floor, which provides radiant floor heating. Separately, water used for bathing is run through the underground tank in coils and heated.

During the summer and autumn months, heat is stored up from the solar thermal energy. Once December rolls around, that stored heat is mostly depleted. That’s when the second system kicks in -- a masonry heater.

The boxy heater is an $8,500 investment, but is also far more efficient than a standard wood stove. The masonry heater heats both the home and the water tank.

The trick is a system of coils within the stove. Wood burns fast and hot and then radiates out into the home for far longer than a typical stove (last year Grunau used less than a cord of wood).