REDI Haus

About REDI Haus

Purchased in the spring of 2000, the REDI Haus is the home of the Renewable Energy Development Institute.  This facility allows REDI to be a visible part of the Willits community and the opportunity to implement many of the practices that it advocates.

Instead of tearing down existing structures or purchasing open land to develop, REDI purchased the Haus with the intention of renovating the existing structures in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The REDI Haus serves as an office for the non-profit while demonstrating the realities of a healthy and productive student residence.  Health is the paramount concern as various products are considered for installation.  Production of energy, food and fresh ideas are on-site priorities.

Why “Haus?”

The REDI Haus is a hands-on, educational project intended to raise awareness of precious resources and the ways in which we can begin to bring our lifestyles more in balance with the world surrounding us.  The multiplicity of considerations at play in such a project called for a unique name.  “Haus” invokes the holistic approach to building popularized by the German BauHaus movement which considered the social, political, economical and artistic ideologies embodied in the buildings we construct.  Further complementing these considerations is the philosophy of Bau-Biology, the study of the relationship between buildings and life.  Bau-Biology seeks to actualize structures that have the most salubrious impact on the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental well being of the people who live or work in them.

Getting Started

Starting the project meant reckoning with a house that was home to a smoker for over 30 years.  Scrubbed walls ran brown as we prepared to apply a fresh coat of water based, non-toxic, low VOC paint.  The odor began to improve with the new paint and was dramatically improved when we removed the carpets.  Those carpets were disposed of appropriately.  Beneath the carpets we found intact wood floors.  The floor was enthusiastically scrubbed and bathed in a coat of Livos Caldet oil.  We now have shining wood floors and bright walls.

Other features currently in place include a 1kw photovoltaic array with a grid intertie on the south end of the lot and an electric vehicle charging station. We also installed a metal roof and more solar panels, rewired and insulated the ceiling, walls and floor, installed energy efficient lighting fixtures, and started organization of the extensive REDI library. There is always more work to do.