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 2009 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 over $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 and in south-eastern Minnesota since 2000.

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, vice president of the Lanesboro Art Council board, the 2009 board chair of the Rochester Area Quality Council, a board member of the Minnesota Council for Quality board, a board member of the Rochester Diversity Council, and pres

In his free time, Christian teaches dance classes and plays keyboard.