About Project Licht ‘n Stein
Project Licht ‘n Stein is the realization of a dream to build a home that successfully combines a contemporary design and 21st-century comfort with renewable energy and environmentally-friendly principles.
The house—located three car minutes from downtown Lanesboro, Minnesota—currently comprises a small, 1 kW wind generator, a passive solar design, a masonry stove, radiant in-floor heating, rainwater collection, insulated concrete forms, environmentally-friendly building materials (such as cork, bamboo, and milk paint). In 2008 Christian hopes to add solar hot water heating and a photovoltaic array to supplement the wind power.
The dwelling has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and an attached, drive-through two-car garage and includes a washing machine, dishwasher, and garage door openers as well as wireless internet, a whole-house audio system and a planned home theater system.
Yet the house will only take less than $100 a year to live in (mainly for cooking) and will save about $300,000 in utility cost over the next 25 years if energy prices continue to increase by 10% each year.
Since August of 2006, over 420 people have toured the house and almost 750 people have seen Christian's entertaining presentation (see sidebar "Presentation Testimonials" on the Events page) [as of May 2008].
About Christian Milaster
Christian Milaster is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds a Masters Degree in Technical Information Science from the Technical College in Wedel near Hamburg, Germany as well as a 3-1/2 year electronics technician degree. He started software development in 1987 and is currently working as a Project Manager in the Mayo Clinic Division of Engineering in Rochester, Minnesota, where he and his colleagues design and build one-of-a-kind devices and solutions for Mayo’s physicians and researchers.
Born, raised, and educated in Hamburg, Germany, Christian has lived in the US since 1998.
Christian is a member of Rotary International and a trained Prejudice Reduction Workshop Facilitator for the Rochester Diversity Council. He is the secretary on the board of directors at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, a member of the Lanesboro Art Council board of directors and the 2008 board chair of the Rochester Area Quality Council.