![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/78c27dca-6a3e-5909-8b67-7bb876ad6705.image_-300x200.jpg\")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nJena Pittmon stands on a high, grassy mound, peering out across the land where she lives and works.<\/p>\n
Below the turf and dirt under her feet is her living room.<\/p>\n
Pittmon\u2019s home is a pair of domes connected by a tunnel. Covered almost completely by earth, the structure is tucked among the sloping, rolling hills south of Coeur d\u2019Alene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason that we\u2019re here and that we like earth-sheltered homes is that they use way less energy than most homes,\u201d Pittmon said.<\/p>\n
No poles or power lines obstruct the view from the earth-sheltered residence.<\/p>\n
The home is completely off-grid, powered by energy harnessed from the sun and the wind.<\/p>\n
A bank of solar panels lines the incline that leads to her front door. A wind turbine spins in the breeze from the top of a pole near the base of the home\u2019s driveway.<\/p>\n
Because the residence is mainly underground, it benefits from the constant temperature of the earth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re covered with dirt, you never have a temperature that\u2019s outside the building that\u2019s less than or more than about 55 degrees,\u201d Pittmon said. \u201cIn the winter we could actually walk away from this house, with no heating on for the entire winter, and the temperature would never get below 55 degrees. We would never have a problem with pipes freezing.\u201d<\/p>\n
With partners Lee Pittmon and Albert Lassiter, Pittmon purchased the 10-acre property and began constructing the living space five years ago with Lee as contractor.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.survival-spot.com\/survival-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/72add38c-8493-5c78-b91e-0dedc745232e.image_-300x200.jpg\")
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They\u2019ve lived in the 4,000-square-foot, rounded structure for three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty interesting building it. When we had it covered with dirt, there was a bulldozer on top of our house,\u201d Pittmon said.<\/p>\n
The domes\u2019 walls are filled with rebar and concrete with earth backfilled over all but one side. The dirt is reinforced with about 370 tire bales that contain 100 tires each.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are about 37,000 tires around our house, so we\u2019ve put carbon back into the ground,\u201d Pittmon said.<\/p>\n
They have a solar-powered water pump and a 3,000-gallon holding tank.<\/p>\n
Inside the dome comprising the main living area, things don\u2019t look much different than inside a traditional home, with an open living room and kitchen, and three bedrooms.<\/p>\n
In the dome\u2019s furthest recesses, away from the structure\u2019s windowed front walls and sunlight, there is an entertainment room and exercise room.<\/p>\n
The tunnel leads from the kitchen into the second dome where there is a utility room, shop area, and the residence\u2019s energy system with a 48-volt bank of batteries that store the generated energy. The house is heated by a solar and wind-powered hydronic system.<\/p>\n
On the upper level of the second dome, upstairs from the shop, is a music studio and office.<\/p>\n
This is where Pittmon runs her Web site development business, Open Ears Web Design. The green company is powered solely by home-generated energy.<\/p>\n
They also have an annualized geothermal solar panel that captures heat and directs it into the dirt under the home where it is stored until it rises in the winter to provide radiant heating.<\/p>\n
Most of the energy used in the home comes from the traditional solar panels and wind turbines. When the sun isn\u2019t shining and there\u2019s no wind, they have a propane-powered generator to fill the gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the summertime, when we have sunny days, by 8 a.m. our batteries will be full,\u201d Pittmon said. \u201cThen we have all this power-generating capability and it\u2019s just sitting there.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sometimes wishes they were hooked into the grid because they could be generating power for the utility company.<\/p>\n
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Before moving into the earth-sheltered home, Pittmon lived in Post Falls where they had a wind generator that fed surplus energy back into the grid.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not hooking in now because they don\u2019t need to buy it. Plus, it would cost about $30,000 to run the lines and connect with power about a quarter-mile away.<\/p>\n
They pay close attention and restrict their usage because they try to use what they generate, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t think about it because the cost of energy is pretty inexpensive,\u201d Pittmon said. \u201cI read somewhere that the average family uses about 30 kilowatts a day, and we use 10, so people just need to learn how to use less energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
If people have questions about earth-sheltered homes or living off-grid, she suggests they contact her through her Web site, www.openearsweb.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n By MAUREEN DOLAN\/Staff writer<\/p>\n