You might call Ty Newell the reluctant engineer. At the University of Michigan in the early 1970s, he would rather have studied natural resources or liberal arts, but those programs were full. So he went into engineering, figuring he’d switch to one of his first choices in a semester or so.

Except that it never happened. His grade point average wasn’t high enough to get him into natural resources, and the prospect of being drafted for duty in Vietnam kept him from dropping out of school. So engineering it was going to be.

Out of school in 1974, Newell worked for a couple of years in an Ohio plastics plant as a project engineer, and then something weird happened. “Of all the unexpected things,” Newell says, “I found I thoroughly enjoyed engineering and I found that it would give me the tools and background to work in the alternative energy field in a manner I would enjoy.”

纽厄尔（Newell）认为他需要的不仅仅是大学学位，因此他在俄亥俄州立大学（Ohio State University）上了课程，在那里他遇到了迈克尔·莫兰（Michael Moran），他是一位教授热力学课程可怕课程的教授。他曾经在莫兰（Moran）的班级测试中获得零，但他发现他不仅对材料有本能的理解，而且还喜欢它。

That realization helped propel him into solar energy engineering, first at the University of Utah, where he landed a teaching assistant’s job as he pursued a master’s degree, and eventually to the engineering faculty at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Newell builds a superinsulated passive solar home

Newell tells this story as part of his blog called春分之家, his account of building a superinsulated, solar home for himself and his wife in Urbana, Illinois.

该博客是一个关于房屋如何建造的逐步故事，从2009年秋天的隔热混凝土表格（ICF）基金会（ICF）基金会（ICF）基金会和太阳能电池板安装开始，到2010年在新房屋中成功的感恩节聚会。

施工条目在词汇上很明显，而是依靠数百张照片和字幕式的评论。我从一开始，就放弃了在2010年1月29日偶然发现的条目时，在项目中找到任何有关该项目的地方和作者的评论，纽威尔在该项目中为该项目奠定了基础。Equinox项目的“序言”。

答对了。

而建设博客本身就是优秀的in its detail, the site also features valuable information on a variety of related topics, such as the economics of a 100% solar home, components (such as windows and walls), rainwater collection, and actual energy performance. Although construction is over, data collection and evaluation goes on. It’s an exceptionally well-documented project. The self-effacing storytelling in Newell’s preface helps pull it all together. He’s a much more engaging writer than he gives himself credit for.

For anyone planning on going the solar, net-zero route, or just learning what it’s all about, the blog will prove a goldmine.

这是一些摘录。

从他的博客角度来看

“I plan to target these writings to the general public, but that doesn’t mean things will be interesting, clearly organized, or grammatically correct. Remember, I am an engineer. My lectures as a professor have been known to lower the metabolism of my students to dangerously low levels (which at least conserves energy), and I’m sure my written stuff is just as dull. I wish I could write with the scientific clarity of Edward Thorndike, the logic of Amory Lovins, and the conviction of Aldo Leopold, but unfortunately those are not skills I’m endowed with (see…I even ended my sentence with a preposition, something my English major/Librarian spouse, Deb, will be quite upset at…..she doesn’t like sentences that end in ‘at,’ either).”

关于他为什么建造Equinox House

“We must return to living on our daily allowance of solar energy. Without significant efforts taken now to develop a sustainable way of life, our future generations will be faced with more war, famine and pestilence in order to make adjustments to survive in a world with diminished resources, overpopulation, and massive pollution. Leaving our children, their children, and beyond with to cope such hardships is something I find hard to live with.

“因此，以上是有点阴沉的，我本质上不是一个令人沮丧，悲观的人。如果是的话，我不会努力努力实现可持续生活方式所需的变化。因此，这是事物的乐观方面。我知道我们现在可以做更多的事情。也就是说，我认为世界是有足够的资源来改善所有人的生活质量。改善自己的生活不必以牺牲他人为代价。”

“When I began working in alternative energy in the 1970s, we were still developing the required technologies. Today, because of the hard work of a lot of stubborn people like many of my faculty colleagues and industry friends, enabling technologies are available now at a cost that is affordable.”

关于太阳能感兴趣的重生

“各种学生团体一直邀请我谈论太阳能，但是从1985年到2000年，我的听众范围为1至4人。这些听众可能很小，而有些人确实只有1或2个人，如果他们是合适的1或2个人，那么他们可能是完成重要事情的人。

“大约在2002年，当我去一个学生团体上发表关于太阳能的演讲时，我进入了房间，看到了很多人。我确定这是错误的房间。但事实并非如此，从那时起，由于我们的年轻人认识到年龄较大的人无法解决他们将要面对的问题，因此观众一直在充满饱满。这次我们会遇到挑战，还是随着最近的能源价格冲击成为遥远的记忆，我们会像以前一样褪色？”

On the beauty of the design

“Equinox House is one of the most technologically advanced homes ever built. But if you visit Equinox House, you will not see the complexity nor be aware of it. You will experience a simple house that exists to serve its occupants and keep them comfortable. The complexity of its engineering design and Equinox House’s embedded technology, paradoxically makes it a very simple home to live in.

“Today’s automobiles are similar with their highly sophisticated technologies. And yet, today’s cars are simpler and safer to drive, with repairs and maintenance less frequent than ever before. Equinox House has incorporated sensing and control technologies that simplify living in the house. Even with a failure of the local utility, its robust design ensures that water pipes will never freeze, and that it will be a comfortable shelter in either summer or winter. And, because it is a true, net zero home that is 100% powered by solar energy, future increases in utility rates will not be a concern.”

On the paradox of windows

适度“Equinox的房子是一个窗口的家里。在same time, the windows have been designed to brightly light the interior throughout the year, and efficiently provide solar heating in the winter. The house is named after its novel ‘equinox overhang’ that protects the clerestory windows from the summer sun while acting as a solar radiation reflector during the winter.

“窗户通常被误解，并且不及格地纳入建筑设计中。很少有人能够提供有关窗口成本和价值的定量信息。销售人员无法提供答案，并且最有兴趣向您出售尽可能多的窗户。

“In almost all cases, windows do not save money. They are the most expensive part of the house exterior and require the most maintenance. The most ‘economical’ house would be a Styrofoam igloo. So why do we want windows? We like to ‘see’ outside, and we like natural light. With the cost of flat screen televisions dropping to that of a window ($40 to $80 per square foot), perhaps we will replace windows with a series of televisions and exterior cameras that transmit the outside view in a more energy and cost efficient manner than a window? And, with the added benefit of being able to change the view to that of any location in the world if the outside view isn’t to your liking.”