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Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Venture too far out into the Pine Nut Mountains and you just might find a jewel of proactivity.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
Half-buried in the sand and sagebrush of the rolling hills south of Gardnerville lies Fred Smith's house, home to Sunfire Research.
The establishment runs primarily on solar electricity, with a little help from a wind turbine and a hookup to the general power grid used to provide energy to Smith's elaborate garage.
Alternate energy is Smith's business. He designs custom-built solar homes, retrofits existing systems and provides consulting on home design and building management.
He also builds mobile solar electric generators and various power units.
"In a real nutshell, what we do is cover all aspects of alternate energy," Smith said. "We seek out alternatives to satisfy and meet the customer's goals while allowing them to live a normal lifestyle."
Smith built his passive solar home in 1978. A good portion of the home is below ground, while one wall is paneled in glass windows capable of harnessing 1,700 BTUs worth of heat per square foot.
Mechanical shutters made of urethane foam coated with insulated metal are raised and lowered over the windows to control temperatures.
"The warmest it's ever been during the summer is about 75 or 76 degrees," Smith said. "Now, on the other hand, it is the same temperature inside during the winter but, by that time, 76 is nice and warm."
While the home is design for heating efficiency (it passed building codes in 1978 using the wall of windows as a primary heating source), the building itself is powered by several 1,500-pound solar-charged batteries.
An array of solar panels recharge the batteries. The bank follows the sun throughout the day with the help of a tracking probe.
The wind turbine helps out during the winter months when it is darker longer.
"The sun will outperform the wind in this area 100 to 1," Smith said. "But the wind can help supplement the usage during the winter months when it gets windier at night."
Smith typically advises his customers to hook up to Sierra Pacific power grid for an additional battery charge if solar resources become tapped in an emergency.
"The beauty of it is that we set up a sell-back system with the power company," Smith said. "You can't make any money off of the power company but you can sell power to them and come out at a net-sum of zero for the year.
"There are no power bills."
Smith is currently researching how recent bills passed by the Nevada State Legislature that encourage alternative energy resource development with tax breaks and financial packages will help his business and his customer base.
"I wish we had half of the benefits that California has," Smith said. "They get a series of grants where people literally get a check for half of their system costs.
"It's because they help offset the power demands of the grid."
While solar energy engineering is definitely one of Smith's focuses, it is far from the limit of his abilities.
Smith graduated from high school in Gross Point, Mich., at the age of 16 and turned down an offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He opted instead to go to work for a drag racing team in Florida.
While racing cars there, he took special student classes from the University of South Florida.
"I wasn't going for a degree, I didn't want to have to take basket weaving 3, or social events 5," Smith said. "I just wanted the hard-core engineering stuff."
He moved back to Michigan in 1969 and began taking special student aeronautical engineering classes at the University of Michigan.
As a result he designed and built two airplanes from the ground up.
The next several years took him through a variety of engineering firms where he designed the first successful rear-engine dragster, concept cars for automotive companies and prop cars for TV series like I Dream of Jeannie and Get Smart.
He was also in on developing the sets for the original Star Trek series.
"We used everything from plywood to papier mache« on that," Smith said. "We would go down to the Motorola in Phoenix and go through their scrap dump to get all the flashing lights and things."
The move from Detroit to the Carson Valley came as somewhat of a surprise to Smith.
I was flying my airplane all over the Western United States looking for a place to find happiness," he said. "A friend of mine told me about a town called Minden, and I thought, 'What an ugly name,'
"In 1976 I came flying over the mountain there at about 14,000 feet and saw this little green jewel with Lake Tahoe right there and I said, 'This is it.'"
Smith bought five acres of land from Stoddard Jacobsen and spent the next two years designing and building his home. He and Carson Valley builder Mark Barnett built the house in a little over 16 months.
Smith said his scenario of buying remote land and developing power sources is a wise step that many people aren't aware they are able to take.
"You can go out and find land that doesn't have power and probably never will, and you can buy it for anywhere from 12 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to powered land," Smith said. "You can put your own solar electric generation system in for far less than the balance in the price of powered land.
"People can find the money to spend on a brand new SUV, which is a depreciating asset. For the same amount of money, they can be totally energy independent and it is like an annuity that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids."
For more information on Sunfire Research call Smith, or his associate Cliff Wordall at (775) 782-5257.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
