____________________________________________________

September 23, 2003

State Rep puts her house where her mouth is

Rebecca Otto's home featured in Twin Cities Solar Home Tour

People always talk about elected officials needing to maintain high
integrity. Representative Rebecca Otto (Marine on St Croix) really
seems to take that idea seriously. Her recent car purchase was a hybrid
Toyota Prius that has 1/100th the emissions of a normal car, and she and
her husband, movie writer Shawn Lawrence Otto, designed and built a
renewable energy home with their own hands that is being featured in
this fall's Twin Cities Solar Home Tour on Oct 4.

"The Ottos' home is a model of smart design and renewable energy
technology that works," said Dan Moring, spokesman for the Midwest
Renewable Energy Society. "We're very excited about the opportunity to
include it in this year's tour."

The Ottos built the home they call "Breezy" over a two year period. It
features passive solar design, superinsulation, airtight construction, a
masonry wood heater, low consumption appliances, and an eighty-foot tall
wind generator that produces most of the home's electricity.

"It's a brilliant, warm, eminently functional and inviting home," said
Moring. Shawn Otto says he's "honored" at the inclusion of the 3,700
square foot home in the tour. "We wanted to show that being good to the
environment doesn't have to mean a sacrifice in lifestyle," he said.
Otto, who lectures on wind energy, studied architecture at the
University of Minnesota. He researched and designed the home in consort
with his wife. "Smart design means making a small investment in higher
quality and better planning up front that can pay huge dividends over
the life of the home."

Representative Otto says that's a philosophy of
responsibility that makes sense. "I used to teach science to 180 7th
Graders, and every year I'd bring my students out for a field trip to
our home, and show them a video of its construction phases. It became
one of the most popular events of the year. Our kids are the ones who
are going to have to live in the world we leave behind, and they are
very concerned, and were happy to learn there are things you can do."

This won't be the first time the Ottos' home has received attention.
The Ottos regularly host tours and parties for interested groups of
people. When asked whether she minds all the extra work this involves,
Otto laughs. "Once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess," she says.
"We built this house with that in mind, and it's part of the reason we
did it. We care about the future, about being responsible residents of
this country and planet, and believe you've got to act on your values
for them to mean something."

The Otto home is located at 12697 N 177th St in May Township. It will
be open from 10-4, Saturday, Oct 4, 2003. To find out more about the
entire slate of homes to be featured in the 2003 Twin Cities Solar Home
Tour, contact the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society at 612-298-7909 or
visit www.mres-solar.org.