Self Sufficiency
A desire to live in harmony with the earth and also to become self-sufficient is what led residents of Stelle to pursue alternative and renewable energy sources. This desire has also sparked gardening and food preservation activities.
Stelle’s
infrastructure includes Stelle Telephone
Company, the first off-grid, solar powered, end-of-line phone switch in
North America. All calls made
from homes in Stelle are solar-powered phone calls.
The community offers a central water plant that serves the 44 living
units in Stelle (a mixture of single family, duplex and quadplexes.)
A 10KW wind turbine interconnected to the electrical grid supplies power
to the water pumps. The plant also includes a battery bank with inverters to
provide backup power during power outages.
In this town of 44 living units there are 14 homes which have all or part of their electricity supplied via solar panels, battery bank and inverter. Still another six or more homes have passive solar designed into their homes, including one earth bermed home, offsetting a portion of the winter heating requirement. More than half the homes use wood as all or part of their heating fuel. Four miles away, Stelle residents helped friends raise the walls of their new home --the first straw bale house built in Illinois (200 bales were used).
Click here for article on straw bale house
Stelle is also home to a garden
co-op which provides fresh food during the growing season as well as
preserved food outside the growing season. This cooperative activity is
open to community members as well as interested individuals outside of
Stelle. The garden is comprised of an approximately one-half acre community garden plot along with
some individual garden plots spread throughout the community. The community is also steward over a
3 acre apple and pear orchard.
For a number of years, Stelle has celebrated Earth Day by opening its doors to anyone interested in learning how to use solar or wind energy. The community offers an “up close and personal” look at these technologies – technologies that are considered hard to find in most parts of the country, and are especially scarce in Illinois. Center for Sustainable Community, which sponsors this Earth Day event, extends a similar invitation to solar advocates and hobbyists to tour Stelle during the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour held each October. Contact (815) 256-2204 for information on either of these events.