Octagonal Sedona Net-Zero Home
Last Updated: Mar 17, 2025After three days of hiking the famed red rocks in Sedona, Arizona, Bev Bow turned to her husband, Don Fries, and said, "Let's start looking for property to buy." That's not unusual. The town's star-filled dark skies, clean mountain air, vibrant high-desert landscape, and towering red rock formations interwoven with hiking and mountain biking trails, work their magic on visitors.
Bow and Fries were no exception, and yet they were. They bought a site that winds up a hill with views of the red rocks they love. They also knew, from the get-go, that they would build a net-zero house. "Even before we were married eight years ago, in our separate lives, we were both committed to energy saving and environmental issues," says Bow. "We both always had dreams of building a truly energy-efficient home."
Table of Contents
- Super-Insulated Octagon
- Net-Zero Strategies
- Healthy Home, Healthy Life
"Building our own house, and doing it in a sunny location, meant going with solar," she continues. "We moved here from Oregon, where doing a net-zero home is more difficult." In Sedona, which is at an elevation of 4,500 feet and has an average of 278 sunny days per year, "Why wouldn't you do net-zero," she adds.
Super-Insulated Octagon
Because the lot lent itself to multiple faces opening to the spectacular scenery, Fries drew the home as an octagon. The couple then turned their drawing over to architect Max Licher of Design Group Architects in Sedona.
Net-Zero Strategies
The couple selected a grid-tied system. It includes a 10.71 kW DC Solar PV array and 64 square feet of high-performance SunEarth solar collectors with 80 gallons of storage with back-up electric elements. The solar array powers all of the electrical in the house. It's also connected to 12 kW of SMA off-grid battery-based inverters connected to 13 kWh of lithium batteries to power the couple's Tesla.
The home has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two offices, and a greenhouse. A fenced area and gate lead to the front door, located at the back of the site, where gardens and fruit trees grow. The couple also purchased a lot below their home, which they use for additional gardening space and parking for their guests.
"We do a lot of hiking, often right from the house," says Fries. Don is very pleased with how he and Bow have seamlessly merged their compassionate plant-based lifestyle with a net-zero sustainable home. "We're temporary travelers on the planet, so we like to leave a light footprint."
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.
