beausoleil

V is for Victory (and Ventilation)

I recently attended another of PG&E’s great series of classes at their Energy Center, this one about ventilation in houses.  The Title 24 building codes regulating energy use in buildings changed this year (see previous blog “2010 title 24 energy updates”).  This class was about the ventilation component of these upgrades, which now require whole house ventilation as a matter of course.

The interesting thing is, although we all think of the forced air heating and cooling systems in our houses as ‘ventilation’ systems, most don’t actually do any ventilation. The instructor, Judy Roberson,  characterized this as “Where’s the V in HVAC”, HVAC being the industry acronym for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning.  She even has a collection of photos of  HVAC contractor advertising, all of which mentions heating and cooling, none of which mentions ventilation.

Ventilation is, specifically, the replacement of stale, odorous, humid air from inside a house with fresh air from outside, and most heating and cooling systems in houses specifically don’t do this – they instead recycle the air, heating and cooling it, but never replacing it.  Fresh air is generally left to the occupants opening windows, or whatever infiltration happens when the wind blows or when someone turns on an exhaust fan.

While these ventilation methods have worked historically, as we have tried to make our houses more energy efficient by sealing up gaps in the building envelope, houses are now having more problems with indoor air quality.  There is relatively little of the small drafts that used to keep houses fresh, so air is left in place, and lack of oxygen, humidity, chemical odors from construction materials, and even mold are becoming a problem. This is the situation which the new code changes are meant to address.

The code allows for several compliance methods: stale air can be either exhausted from the house (fresh air is made up via infiltration through the gaps in the building envelope), or supplied into the house, or some combination of the two.  The ventilation can be continuous at a low level, or, intermittent with higher amounts of ventilation.  So, as of last January, all new and most remodeled houses will need to have these ventilation systems, on a twenty four/seven/365 basis. The older, more conventional exhaust fans are also now mandatory, not optional, in kitchens, laundries and bathrooms.

The main points of the PG&E class included Judy’s bedrock opinion that continuous – not intermittent – ventilation was far better for achieving the desired effect.  It is both more effective (intermittent ventilation can only be worse, never better than continuous), more cost efficient (smaller fans, ducts, simpler controls) and less likely to be annoying to the residents (less noise, no on/off disturbance, less obtrusive air movement).

Incidentally, we are talking about small amounts of air.  The typical bathroom exhaust fan, exhausting 50 to 100 cubic feet per minute (CFM) provides enough ventilation capacity to meet the code for the average house. And in fact, that is what some builders are doing – simply providing a better quality, quieter fan in one bathroom that gets left on all the time.  While this can comply with the minimum standards of the code, and is cheap, there are better options.  Judy’s favorite system was a supply fan which served multiple rooms, particularly bedrooms, where we spend most of our time. 

The supply-type system gives you filtered air from a selected source (not just infiltrated air from anywhere), and positively pressurizes the house so that there is less chance of infiltration from 'dirtier' spaces like attics, crawlspaces and garages.   The electrical usage would generally cost twenty to thirty dollars per year – not too bad considering the positive indoor air quality advantages.  This is the other main point: the energy savings of having a ventilated but ‘tight’ home, which doesn’t leak the much larger quantities of energy that a leaky house does, are much more than the energy used in ventilation.  Thus the title of the class: Ventilate Right, Build Tight.

Our first negative PG&E bill!

Yippee!  Our current monthly electric charges from PG&E are at a record low -$0.34!  Keep in mind that we only designed our solar system to offset about 55% of our typical usage.  Hooray for that "beau" soleil, and hoorah for the long summer days of June. 

Yesterday was our record day so far with 20.41 kilowatts generated by our 2.7kwh system.

Design for All

I’ve lately been getting an unsolicited education in a hot architectural topic – Universal Design.  This is the design philosophy that we should design all spaces to be both accessible and fully useable for everyone as a matter of course.  It seems obvious, but it’s actually in contradiction to common practice of the last twenty years – since basic accessibility became a requirement – where we pretty much ignore accessibility in housing, treat accessibility for paraplegic wheelchair users as the sole de facto goal in commercial spaces, and mostly do the bare legal minimum in general.

My education springs from a torn Achilles tendon, requiring that I keep weight off of one foot for several months.  It’s not particularly painful, but recently my modes of ambulation have been either on crutches, or, more delightfully, on wheeled office chairs.  Remember when you were a kid visiting dad’s office and got to swoosh around the room on his desk chair? That’s me, rolling about on our hardwood floors, sling-shotting around corners. The family motorized wheelchair, i.e., car, is also very handy, although it’s a bit large to drive down the grocery store aisles.

So, not too bad, except for the fact that we live in a two story house, some of which is carpeted, and that there are a number of thresholds that block easy rolling.  All of a sudden, the ¼” high thresholds at some doors are an annoying, noisy inconveniences, and the one inch threshold at our old bathroom makes it impossible to visit without crutches, and the three inch curb at our shower made use almost impossible (no, I didn’t want to hop on one foot onto a wet and soapy tiled surface), until I thought of putting a plastic cooler box inside the shower compartment, which I could slide onto from my chair. Even floor textures make me crazy.  The rough antique stone tiles in our bathroom are wheel catchers and noise makers. Don’t even get me started on throw rugs.

There are many large and small things that would help. Smoother thresholds (or completely level thresholds) and smooth floors.  A bit more space to maneuver. An elevator (ha!). Our stair is narrow (actually good) and has two handrails on one flight, so I can hop down supporting my weight on both arms.  The lower flight, however, just has a handrail on one side, so (more childhood memories here) I get to scoot down on my bottom. Also, I’ve noticed something on sidewalks that I’ve had to deal with professionally without really thinking it was important – side slope. This is the slope from side to side (as opposed to down the length of the sidewalk). It’s very tricky to deal with the imbalance this creates, whether in a wheelchair or on crutches.

The point of all this is that most people, at some point in their lives, will have a temporary or permanent disability – it isn’t a subject that just affects a small minority with major injuries.  Of course, there are a million different ways to be disabled, and design which accommodates one person’s difficulty may vary from (or even be in conflict with) the solution for someone else.  Universal Design also recognizes that non-disabled folks have needs too – for clear, consistent signage and a clear, well lit field of vision, for instance.  So, it’s tricky, but as our country ages, we will be seeing more efforts made to create spaces – in both homes and in public places – that are universally useable.  Expect to see more level walkways, smoother transitions, non-skid surfaces, grab bars, elevators, wider doorways with automatic doors, and signage in a variety of sizes and types.  For good general discussions of the subject, check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design
or
http://www.adaptiveenvironments.org/index.php?option=Content&Itemid=3

2010 California Title 24 Updates

The new energy codes for California are out and are now being enforced throughout the state.  We recently took an update training class from our favorite Title 24 consultant and guru, Mark Madison of Energy Code Works, and thought we would share the information with you,  Below is our synopsis of the residential changes and requirements, for both lighting and ventilation.

I'm having trouble with importing and formatting my word document into TypePad, so forgive some of the misalignments below.  I've also attached the Word document if you prefer to download it.

Download Summary of Title 24 Changes

A.    New Residential Lighting Requirements
Applies to new construction, additions, alterations, replacement of light fixtures (not just bulbs).  Does not apply to loose lighting (ie. table lamps) or lighting integral to appliances.

Requirements by zone
1. Kitchens
“A room or area used for food storage and preparation of washing dishes, including associated countertops and cabinets, refrigerator, stove and floor areas”
    a. 50% of total wattage must be high efficacy
    b. High and low efficacy must be switched separately
    c. Fixtures on any light switches in the kitchen must be counted
    d. Internal cabinetry accent lighting allowance of 20 watts per linear foot (horizontal or         vertical) of illuminated cabinet
    e.Additional allowance of 50watts for homes ≤2500 sf, or 100 watts for homes >2500 s.f. if:
        1. manual on vacancy sensor or dimmer in kitchen
        2. high efficiency luminares and vacancy sensors are installed in garages, laundry, closets, utility rooms.
    f.  For fixtures that can accommodate a variety of lamp wattages, use average wattage

         or highest wattage  if lamp installed is highest allowable.
    g. Blank electrical boxes in kitchens are calculated at 80 watts low efficacy.
    h. If you are remodeling a kitchen and adding some new fixtures, some old fixtures may need to be replaced to meet 50% rule.

2. Other Rooms #1 (bathrooms, garages, laundry, closets (under 70s.f.), utility rooms
    a. All fixtures must be high efficacy or controlled by a vacancy sensor (manual on, auto off)

3. Other Rooms #2 all other rooms (larger closets, bedrooms, living rooms, attics, enclosed patio (even if not heated), etc.
    a. All fixtures must be high efficacy with regular switching OR
    b. All fixtures must be on vacancy sensors or dimmers

4. Outdoor Lighting
Applies to lighting attached to a building (not landscape or pool lighting)
    a.  All fixtures must be high efficacy with regular switching OR
    b. All fixtures must be on manual on/off switch with motion sensor (with no override) and one of the following  three methods to turn lights off during the day:
        1. Photocontrol with no override or bypass switch/
        2. Astronomical time clock with no override or bypass switch.
        3. Energy Management Conrol System with no override that allows light to always be on.
        4. Temporary override feature for up to six hours is acceptable (section 119)
    c. Address signs, Section 148
        1. Option 1 - must be high efficacy OR maximum of 12 watts per square foot of sign area (internally  illuminated)     
        2. Option 2 – no screw based socket and not more than 5 watts of power

Miscellaneous Lighting Notes:
1.    Form CF-6R-LTG-1 must be completed (by electrical contractor ideally) and given to the inspector at the end  of  construction.
2.    Definition of High Efficacy (Table 150C), Dedicated pin type lamps only, no screw in.  Electronic ballasts for 13W or higher. LED fixtures must be C.E.C. certified (Table 6-2)
3.    Recessed fixtures in insulated ceilings must have IC rating, certified air tight (2CFM max) sealed with gaskets or caulk between housing and ceiling. Rating label must be inside can.

B. New Residential Ventilation Requirements based on Ashrae 62.2

For new homes and additions greater than 1000 square feet

1. All habitable rooms (not closets, laundry garage, etc.)  must have windows with ventilation, openable area to be a minimum of 4% of floor area, or 5 s.f. minimum.

2. Kitchens
    a. Range hoods must be 100 CFM minimum and vent to outside OR
    b. Wall fan to provide 5 air changes per hour.

3. Bathrooms (not powder rooms)
    a. Provide fan with 50 CFM minimum and vent to outside,

4. Laundry
    a. Clothes dryers must vent to outside

5. Garage
    a.    Walls between house and garage must be sealed

6. Equipment
    a. HVAC must use Merv 6 or higher filters
    b. For HVAC equipment in garages or ducts passing through a garage, entire duct system must be sealed and HERS tested and certified, CF-4R form completed by tester.
    c. Verify minimum duct sizes per Table 4-9 (calculate with diameter, length, elbows, type of duct)
    d. No more than 6% duct leakage.
    e. Air inlets for ventilation must be 9 feet minimum away from barbecues and other “dirty”sources.
    f. Combustion appliances and air systems are to be designed to prevent back drafting
    g. Continuously operating fans must have sound rating of 1 sone or less, intermittent fans, 3 sones or less.
    h. CF6R-MECH-05 Installation certificate must be completed.

7. Whole building mechanical ventilation
    a. Provide 1 CFM per 100 s.f. of floor area plus 7.5 CFM per occupant (# of bedrooms plus one person).                         Ventilation calculations must be provided and tested in field. There are three basic options:
        1.    Exhaust (generally the simplest and most cost effective) Continuously operating 50 CFM minimum (tends to negatively pressurize house and can lead to dust/bad IAQ)
        2.    Supply Provide outside air to plenum.  Tends to positively pressurize house, pushing conditioned air out.
        3.    Combination Supply/Exhaust (best solution, more expensive) Balanced system with heat exchanger to minimize energy losses.
    b. Provide override control for vacations, etc.
    c. Use continuous fans or intermittent fan with timer (intermittent fan will need to be upsized to provide same amount of exhaust).
    d. Verify air flow ratings for exhaust fans from manufacturer www.hvi.org

For further information and complete copy of code, see 
http://energy.ca.gov/title24/2008standards/index.html

Can green = cash?

We are very fortunate to be currently working with a developer on a new five bedroom, four bath home on prime real estate on the Peninsula not far from Stanford University.  While we try to encourage all of our clients to make green choices for environmental and health reasons, in this case, the decisions need to make sense on the bottom line from day 1. 

Contractors, real estate agents, material suppliers, green point raters, designers, green homeowners, we need your help!

Over the next few weeks, we would like to analyze the project using Build It Green's rating program for new homes and try to find areas where green features can be added with little or no additional costs.  We would love input from you in the building profession as to what has worked for you in the past, or where you are seeing good deals now in this competitive economy.  Designers and homeowners who have incorporated green features in past projects, where have you seen the most bang for your buck, either in initial savings or in operating costs?  What features have given you the most pleasure over the long term?

We'd like to hear from you real estate folks as to whether buyers in the Bay Area would pay a premium if they knew that the home was Green Point Rated with points in community, energy, indoor air quality/health, resources and water.  Has real local research been done?  How would you quantify the potential financial differences between traditional vs. green construction?

Especially given the current economy where real estate sales are sluggish and prices reduced, it is all the more important to build efficiently and to price a project properly.  We know green building is important environmentally, but can it also make sense economically, even in the short term?

Please feel free to leave your comments.  We are hoping our blog will bring an open dialogue and become a resource for all.

Here are a few links to published articles/research on the topic.  The first two require payment, but the website gives basic information about their research.  If anyone has purchased these in the past, perhaps you can share your thoughts with us.

The Green Home Consumer: Driving Demand for Green Homes by McGraw Hill Construction 11/08

Shelton Group - Energy Pulse 2009

Residential Green Building Report - A Market Engagement Framework for Developers and Builders, a thesis project from the University of Michigan, 2007.

One year solar anniversary! 616 dollars saved!

After one year of solar generation and data collection, the good news, particularly interesting to you San Franciscans worried about the effects of fog, is that solar does indeed work year round, even in our peculiar climate.

Below is a graph of kilowatt hours generated each month of the year, starting in November 2009 through October 2009.  As can be expected, the lowest month of generation is January with 260.59 kwh (not surprising given the short days of winter), the highest month April, with 500.84.  In most places on our hemisphere, this number would go up higher as the days lengthen in June, but our fog came a little early this year.

For those of you interested in the bottom line, I have to start by apologizing for an earlier omission to our monthly costs.  PG&E has been billing us monthly for the costs of energy distribution and other fees, but not our actual energy use, which accumulates every month until the true up period one year later (some months are positive, others negative).  We just paid our true up bill of $196.91, so I owe you a year's accounting.

I am comparing the total costs of pre-solar 2008 and solar 2009, including all payments to PG&E and  to Solar City for our monthly lease expense of approximately $30 per month.  The comparison is by cost only, and does not compare usage (which to our chagrin, even with our efforts to turn off more lights and replace lightbulbs, has increased by about 300kwh for the year).  The cost comparison also does not reflect the increase in PG&E rates for electricity, which are impossible to account for this year as PG&E has just switched to a time of day metering.  

Total savings for the year are $616.38 with almost 6,000 pounds of C0² offset!

San Francisco Green Business Awards

The award ceremony for the new green certified businesses in San Francisco took place last week in, appropriately, the Green Room at the War Memorial building across from City Hall.  Beausoleil was recognized as one of 60 newly certified businesses in the last year.  This brings the total to 160 green businesses in a city of over 10,000 total. 

We are very proud of our award, seen above, printed with eco friendly soy based inks, using recycled pallets and glass from a hotel demolition for the frame, put together by ecoimprints, another fabulous San Francisco Green Business.

We encourage you business owners out there to check out the green business program in San Francisco  or the larger Bay Area.  Their process was incredibly helpful in finding new ways to save money and further green our business practices.  Besides the immediate environmental benefits, this could prove to be an even more important step in these difficult financial times to set your business apart from the competition!

We be stylin' now

I was thinking about style the other day, while working on a new remodeling project.  I was trying to create a sort of Hawaiian / country / mountain style house for clients whose house is on a forested hillside next to a creek. They wanted an informal plan that could be opened up to outdoor living areas but which would also shelter them from the heavy rainfall in the area.  The project is in Los Gatos, not Hawaii, but as I thought of the classical Hawaiian house – walls that can be opened to the breezes on all sides, wide eaves to protect from the sun and heavy rainfall, natural stone and wood walls, metal roofing – it seemed an appropriate choice, at least as a starting point, for thinking about the look the house might have. Of course, the owner’s Hawaiian shirts, shorts and sandals might have had something to do with my thought processes...

Why do we need to think about ‘style’ for houses? What is a style?  More often than not, our clients come to us with a desire to build a certain style house (and with many functional requirements also, to be sure), generally expressed by a well-known name and generally agreed upon characteristics.  Tuscan villa (stucco walls with stone trims, clay barrel tile roof, simple forms), Craftsman (fine wood detailing and other artistic elements built into the home, horizontal lines, big porches), Contemporary (sharp angles, flat roofs, lots of metal and glass, clean articulation of forms) are typical examples. I think people use style names for the same reason that we put names to many things – as a quick, commonly accepted way to identify the characteristics of something.  It saves a great deal of explaining.

We also use styles as a way to identify with places and times that have given us pleasure. I think most people, when they set out to create a new environment for themselves, think of places where they have felt happy, or relaxed, or particularly sheltered.  Many ‘styles’ are grounded in a region’s historical methods of construction, based originally in local availability of particular materials and construction methods, and local climatic conditions.  These local conditions ensure a certain consistency of design within the region; if these regions are heavily visited by tourists – think Tuscany, Province, the Sierras, Hawaii – the local style of architecture can become attractive to people who want to recreate the feeling they had while visiting.

On a more grandiose level, style can be used as a status symbol.  Early on, the ancient Greeks used elements from Egyptian architecture to make their temples grand. The Romans copied Greek elements because to them, the Greeks were the class act of their world. Then Rome adapted the plebian arch, developed by military engineers for bridges and aqueducts, into their buildings and a new style was born.  Starting in renaissance Italy, more recent Europeans re-created this ‘classical’ architecture in homage to the great Roman Empire, and it became the preferred architecture for the great and powerful for several centuries, eventually spreading everywhere European colonization went. A similar process took place in Asia.

Thus, some of our clients want classic Palladian villas, not because they enjoyed their stay in Florence, but because the rich and powerful have lived in such palaces since the time of the Medicis.

More later…

Christine is now a Green Point Rater!

I just wanted to let you know that I passed my three exams (one written, one plan check, one field exam) with flying colors.  I am now qualified and available to give green consulting and official ratings to new single or multi-family homes.  Many municipalities in California are adding Green Point Rated requirements to new or substantially remodeled residential projects, and Build It Green's programs, which allow for both entry level and extreme green makeovers, allow for all projects to fit under the same rating guidelines.

Congratulations so far to the Bay Area municipalities listed below (and many more found statewide on Build It Green's website) who have already adopted the standards:

Alameda County
Albany
Brisbane
Hayward
Los Altos
Los Altos Hills
Mill Valley
Novato
Palo Alto
Pleasanton
San Mateo County
San Rafael
Tiburon

And congratulations to many others who have programs in the works, or are using the ratings as suggestions to improve energy use, durability, air quality, etc. in the construction in their areas.  It is exciting to see the progress in residential construction over the past few years!

San Francisco Solar Map

The City of San Francisco has a goal of 10,000 solar photovoltaic installations by 2010.  To track these installations and to give businesses, nonprofits and homeowners a place to see what has already been installed in their neighborhood, they have developed a website called the  San Francisco Solar Map.  Here you can get an idea of the size and annual savings of systems in your own microclimate.  To also help you determine if going solar might be right for your property, the website includes an interactive tab "What can solar do for you" that will give you a quick analysis of potential savings based on your address and roof size.  Links to local solar installers, tax credits and the fabulously generous  San Francisco Solar Initiative, which currently gives immediate credits of  $2000-10,000 for installing a system, can be found on their site. 

The solar map has just been updated for the first time in over 6 months (sadly budget cuts have affected their ability to keep up to date more regularly with new installations).  Our own installation is finally listed on the map, which helps bring the total to 1311 documented installations - a good start, but still very short of the 10,000 goal.  We know that not all systems are on the map as we have one neighbor in Westwood Park not listed.  We encourage you to contact the organization if you don't find your installation listed, and if you haven't yet considered solar for your property, contact any local installer for a free site specific estimate.  They will look at your PG&E bills and your roof layout and give you a much more accurate assessment for no charge.  The credits are great right now, but with the budget cuts our governments are facing, there is no guarantee of how long they might be available.