This North Side house is already "greener" than most, with a recycled rubber floor and Energy Star appliances in the kitchen, foam insulation and steel studs in the walls, and a geothermal system that both heats and cools by borrowing energy from the earth.

Add in the fact that the century-old house itself was recycled, brought back from ruin and outfitted with "smart house" technology by East Allegheny Community Council with money and help from others, and you would think the homeowner would be satisfied.

You would be wrong.

"I would love to go solar. When I told a friend that the power company would pay him for electricity, he got excited. This stuff just shoots me to the moon," said the homeowner, who asked not to be identified in this article.

Even without solar panels on the roof, this house on Cedar Avenue is a sustainability success story and one of the stars of the Deutschtown House Tour, which runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Design Fair.

The house fits perfectly with the fair's emphasis this year on environmentally friendly products and services. But, like the other six houses on the tour, it's also an example of thoughtful preservation/renovation. The first thing visitors see is its Italianate brick facade and columned front porch, both restored and dotted with new thermal windows. A decorative wrought-iron gate links the house to its twin next door and offers a glimpse of the carriage house behind, which also taps into the geothermal system.

Once inside, visitors see a beautiful oak staircase and in the long room on the right, two striking slate mantels that were saved when a nearby house was torn down. It's a dramatic change from when the East Allegheny Community Council bought the house in 1999.

"The roof had collapsed, one wall was bowed and trees were growing inside," said Randy Strothman, then council president. "Going from something like that to what it's turned into is pretty awesome."

The heating/cooling system installed by Steve Hoover and Geothermal Energy Systems was originally intended to serve more than 20 other nearby houses plus a laundromat and what was then the James Street Tavern. In return for repaving the parking lot, the restaurant owner allowed Mr. Hoover to drill nearly 400-foot deep holes in the parking lot and install loops of 1-inch wide pipe that would carry water from the surface down to where it could either release or absorb heat from the steady 55-degree mass. But by the time the system was completed, a new energy grant from the Duquesne Light Foundation had expired and only this house and its carriage house were hooked up.

The restoration included installation of "smart" wiring and components that would allow residents to control all lights, utilities and security system by two touchpads or remotely by computer. In 2001, the current owner was living in another old house in the central North Side when she noticed a banner on this house while driving to work.

"It said 'The Technology House' and I said 'Oooh!' " she recalled. "For so long, I've been interested in green building and even more so in conservation."

The 67-year-old African-American woman doesn't fit the profile of the tree-hugging yuppie. But this Web-surfing, hyper-texting devotee of Buckminster Fuller was worried about the environment long before it was fashionable. For example, she suscribes to online magazines only and prefers the Internet over books because it's more up to date and doesn't kill trees.

She loves that doing right by the planet also saves her money. Her monthly electric bills average between $200 and $250 in this all-electric house with five bedrooms, 2¹/₂ baths and nearly 11-foot ceilings on the first floors. Meanwhile, a nearby house of approximately the same size has monthly natural gas bills of as much as $600 during the winter.

The homeowner said the geothermal system is not perfect; temperature is more difficult to control in the carriage house apartment. But the benefits and cost-savings far outweigh any flaws, she said.

"Taking an old house and putting in 21st-century bells and whistles is the way to go. We should be building all houses this way."