Here is a video of my presentation:

Stanford Efficient House Presentation from otto pohl on Vimeo.

You can also download the presentation here: 525 South Black Presentation

Looking back on the process, what was interesting was how many of our points we had before we even started: the location counted for a lot. The key is urban infill and proximity to amenities such as shopping, restaurants, and recreation. We also got a lot of points for the miserly energy usage of the house.

Our weakest point was probably landscaping. Going with a traditional grass lawn in need of irrigation, even if we kept it small, didn’t score us a lot of points. The other place we missed some points was in using recycled products.

Then there were a few places where we didn’t get points for things we thought deserved them. We found both of our bathtubs, for example, on the side of nearby streets, discarded by renovating homeowners. With a little cleaning we thought their 1950s design fit our new house perfectly. The USGBC’s LEED rating system, however, was not impressed.

But overall we’re pretty proud and excited about the LEED Gold status! We’re one of the first (maybe the first?) in Montana, and across the country I think fewer than 1,000 houses have reached LEED Gold certification. Of course, if we want a plaque for the wall, we still have to pay for it.

To be honest, the time lapse video a little disappointing, a shortcoming due to two problems.

First, I had originally mounted the camera on a conveniently-situated telephone pole, which would have been great. Unfortunately, the first thing the contractor did was install the temporary power pole right in front of my camera, obstructing the view. So I moved my camera to the temporary pole, which seemed sturdy but proved to move around a lot over the months. So the time lapse video is a lot more wobbly than I would have liked.

Second, my home-made construction of the camera housing worked great until we had a hard rain storm in April. This soaked the camera and ruined it.

But enough of the negativity: check out the video!

Untitled from otto pohl on Vimeo.

Here’s the final setup of my time lapse photography setup. To read the details read on below.

Construction Time Lapse Photography setup

After much research, here’s the setup I chose: A Canon 40D (I had one around…cheaper cameras work fine) combined with a Canon TC-80N3 remote controller. It’s generally used for remote triggering, but can be set to do an infinite loop of pictures with a set interval. (Infinite, that is, until the camera battery dies or the memory card is full.)

Then I picked a place to mount the camera, which in my case was a power pole at the back of the lot. (I later had to move it, to a temporary power pole mounted a few feet in front of the original pole. So if you’re from Northwestern Energy, don’t have a cow. I’ve moved the camera off your pole.)

I did a lot of research on using an external battery, like a car battery, to power the camera, but in the end nothing seemed to really make sense or be practical. So the bottom line is I have to go out and swap out the battery roughly weekly. In the winter it might be more.

The mounting and housing took some work. After considering various ideas I decided to use a bucket (I got mine from Ace hardware, a square black plastic bucket) that I turned upside down and cut a window out of. I chose black because I want it to heat up quickly in winter so the camera heats quickly after cold winter nights.

I got a piece of glass for the window and attached it using silicone. Since I’m worried about condensation, I cut a hole in the top of the bucket (the top when turned upside down) and then used some plumbing supplies I found at Ace to make a little roof over it. The idea is that condensation can get out but rain can’t get in.

A piece of plywood forms the base of the camera stand. To that I mounted the head of a tripod. To make it smaller, I took off the tightening handles of the tripod and replaced them with allen-wrench-ended screws. I cut off two sides of the plastic bucket so the bucket mounted over the edge of the plywood base, and then I hold the whole thing in place with a bungee cord. Aside from the tripod and the camera equipment, the whole setup cost maybe $20.

I set the camera to take pictures every hour. So let the fun begin!

Here are photos of the setup:

Camera Mounted on Tripod Head and on Plywood Board

Plastic Bucket with Window and Condensation Vent

Mark Installs the Camera to the Power Pole

The completed setup mounted on the power pole

overview of the timelapse photography setup