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House Feature

Octagonal Sedona Net-Zero Home

By Camille LeFevre, Home Feature Editor
Last Updated: Mar 17, 2025

After 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

  1. Super-Insulated Octagon 
  2. Net-Zero Strategies 
  3. Healthy Home, Healthy Life 
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Sedona Net-Zero House Tesla
Sedona Net-Zero House Tesla. Photo Credit: Design Group Architects

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. 

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Sedona Net-Zero House Living Room
Sedona Net-Zero House Living Room. Photo Credit: Design Group Architects

Healthy Home, Healthy Life 

When Fries and Bow moved to Sedona, they founded Healthy World Sedona, an organization that promotes and supports plant-based living. The organization produces cooking demonstrations, health and nutrition conferences, and the immensely popular annual Sedona VegFest. Since their home was completed in 2015, Fries and Bow have held regular vegan potlucks at their home, where up to 50 members of their community gather to feast and converse. 

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Sedona Net-Zero House Living Room View
Sedona Net-Zero House Living Room View. Photo Credit: Design Group Architects

"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."

Article By

Camille LeFevre

Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.

Camille LeFevre