A Place in the Sun: The Evolution of the Real Goods Solar Living Center

The Real Goods Solar Living Center, in Hopland, California (two hours north of San Francisco), has hosted hundreds of thousands of visitors since opening in June, 1996. They come to see:
-- Windmills and solar modules that produce enough electricity to allow Real Goods to sell excess power to the local utility
-- Abundant solar-pumped water flowing through a lush oasis that was formerly a toxic patch of abused ground
-- The world's largest straw bale structure, beautifully illuminated by daylight, and heated and cooled without using fossil fuels
-- A central courtyard that is really a giant solar calendar

This story, told through the eyes of the participants, is not a worshipful tale, but rather a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring a vision to reality.

Ninety miles north of San Francisco, the Real Goods Trading Company constructed a cutting-edge solar living center using building materials, landscaping techniques, and futuristic renewable energy technologies. The center is a working demonstration site for renewable energy and earth-friendly building and landscaping concepts; A Place in the Sun is the exciting and fascinating story of how the people and ideas came together to bring the center from conception to a functioning, tangible reality. The result is an eclectic, visionary complex of buildings and landscaping that functions as a center for education, a retail operation, and an experimental demonstration framework for new technologies. The story of how it came to be is both hopeful and inspiring.