Photos: San Francisco's greenest home?

The Skystream wind turbine from Southwest Windpower provides up to half of the home's energy. It only took about 15 minutes to lift the turbine 80 feet in the air over the building with a crane, according to Wilson, the homeowner. A similar turbine should cost around $17,000 and be installed by a handful of people, according to David Monteith, a Southwest Windpower spokesman.

A real-time, Web-based monitoring system from Greater than Green displays energy use and generation as well as water use and data about the amounts of rainwater collected.