Cob Alternative Energy in the PNW

[Brian Jewett]

Since quite a few folks on this list seem to be from the Pacific North
West, maybe some of you can enlighten me. My wife & I will be moving to
the Bellingham area next year and would like to build a cob house in the
woods for ourselves. I’ve always been interested in passive solar and
would like to incorporate it in our design but was wondering if there is
any point in this region? The data I’ve looked at so far shows that the
only area in the US with less solar exposure than Puget Sound is
northern Alaska! Wind energy doesn’t even look very promising in that
area. My question is if there is any successful use of solar or other
alternative energy sources in the area short of cutting up the trees and
burning them?

Brian