Early in 2010, Jim and his wife Kathy were researching housing and land in Hawaii (Big Island) with the prospect of buying an existing house or perhaps building. They saw many houses, and were quite disappointed with those in the “mid-level” price range for this market.
The only existing houses that were well-built seemed to be extremely large and prohibitively expensive – even in a depressed housing market. They were referred to Paul Bleck who is an innovative and well-known home designer both in California and Hawaii and is based in Kona, Hawaii.
In the course of discussing house planning and building options with Paul, it became apparent that Jim’s skill set in consumer electronic applications and marketing would be a good match with Paul’s architectural expertise for developing an energy-independent Smarthouse. Jim has been involved with the TRON House of the TRON Association as well as many electronic housing applications and electric vehicles. Paul developed the First KONAUS™ House building plan in early September, 2010.
