Deconstructing the original house yielded framing material for the interior walls as well as newspapers from 1936.   The all electric straw bale structure with reclaimed timbers and redwood siding is a zero energy home powered by a 8.6kW photovoltaic system.   In addition to being zero energy, carbon offsets for the embodied energy of the building materials are being purchased to both offset the ecological ‘cost’ of the building as well as restore local habitat.