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Not So Big Economy = Good Time for Not So Big House

A Christian Science Monitor OP-ED piece recently bemoaned that the "Big house, better house" concept of home design is "so 2007". Prof. Maxwell points out some excellent points about the importance of HOW we use space versus how MUCH space a home has.
It has been over 10 years now since Sarah Susanka published her watershed "Not so Big House". The real estate community treated it as a niche market for empty nesters and spinsters, less space for people with less. It is time for us to revisit the Not So Big House for what it is; a sustainable solution for housing development. One that looks at efficiency of use to preserve material and land while minimizing energy and other resource use and maximizing the user experience of the space. If you haven't read Sarah's books, you should. If you are thinking of down-sizing/right-sizing your living arrangement, there has never been a better time.
(On a side note one of Sarah's former architectural partners was Dale Mulfinger, one of my early mentors. Their architecture office's work is worth some perusal- SALA Architects)

Passive Cooling Tutorials

I have just updated some tutorials on Passive Cooling. One is an overview of common passive cooling methods, the second is how to determine the appropriate cooling method for your climate, and the third on calculating your building's heat gain. All are hosted on Squidoo, linked below. Soon to come, sizing the different cooling methods to maximize their efficiency.

Passive cooling methods

Choose your passive cooling method

Heat Gain Calculations, simple method

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Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Rebates

The new stimulus bill, aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes a modification of the income tax credit for the energy efficient renovation of ones residence. Your energy efficient remodel can get you up to a $1500 tax credit if construction is between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010. The rebate is based on 30% of the cost to add energy efficient components to your home, for example, insulated doors, energy efficient windows, insulation, or a metal roof. The changes to the existing credit are significant in that you will need any of these components to meet the new 2009 International Energy Conservation Code, and for windows, you need to have a SHGC of .30 and a U-Factor of .30 also. In all cases you will need to show that the work done conforms to the new code, so be sure to save the energy labels for doors and windows and document any and all products used for your exterior improvements and insulation. A statement from your contractor stating that the work was done according to the 2009 IECC probably won't hurt either...

Quick Guide To Efficient Clothes Washers

So, I have been out sick for a week with an ear infection/inflammation. But right back where we left off...
Clothes washing.
In the previous post I talked about toilet efficiency, because it is the number one water user in a home. Right behind it is clothes washers. On average a clothes washer will use 40 gallons of water per wash. It is also worth noting that the electrical/energy use of a clothes washer is directly related to how much water it uses. Therefore, more energy efficient clothes washers are typically lower water users as well. For this reason, the best place to go to find a clothing washer that uses less energy is the Energy Star website. Here is my quick guide to help you know what to look for on the website to get the best performing washer for you.
There are three factors to consider; volume of machine, the modified energy factor, and the water factor.
The volume of the machine simply lets you know how much the actual tub capacity of the water is. Larger volumes can use more water. Make sure you check the manufacturer's information to know if the machine feature controls for water level. Many good machines on the market can automatically adjust water level for the washer load. You need this feature!
The modified energy factor (MEF) replaces the old energy factor. Simply put, this tells you how energy effecient the washing machine is. The higher the MEF, the more efficient the washing machine. The reason why it is modified is to take into account the amount of energy saved in drying the load later. A washing machine with a faster spin speed will remove more water, reducing the amount of energy needed by the dryer to dry the load. Centrifugal drying uses less energy than conventional hot air drying. In the past if two machines used the same amount of energy per load the energy factor would have been identical, regardless of how wet they left the clothing load. So go for the highest MEF you can afford.
Finally, the water factor (WF) is is a the number of gallons per cycle per cubic foot that the clothes washer uses. The lower the water factor, the more efficient the washer is. So, if a clothes washer uses 30 gallons per cycle and has a tub volume of 3.0 cubic feet, then the water factor is 10.0.
Therefore, you want ot find the washing machine with the lowest water factor and the highest modified energy factor that you can afford keeping in mind the volume of clothes washer that you need. Typically a single large load uses less energy and water than two medium loads.
In Sonoma County, PG&E is offering the "High-Efficiency Clothes Washer Rebate", if you recieve water from one of the following water agencies

• City of Cotati
• City of Petaluma
• City of Rohnert Park
• City of Santa Rosa
• City of Sonoma
• Valley of the Moon Water District
  

If you purchase a new efficient clothes washer this year you can get a rebate of between $125-200. In order to qualify for the $125 rebate you washer must have an MEF of 2 or higher and a WF of 6 or less. For the $200 rebate the MEF must be 2.2 or greater and a WF of 4.5 or less.

Sonoma County Water Shortage

Today the newspapers were reporting on the deep drought that Sonoma County is currently suffering. So what are some things you can do to reduce your water consumption if the City/County enforce a 30-50% reduction in end user consumption? The average US household consumes 350 gallons of water per day. Water rationing would require you to cut that by 105-175 gallons per day.
Here is the typical break down of how we use water in our homes:

1. Toilet 26.7%
   
2. Clothes Washing 21.7%
3. Shower 16.8%
4. Faucet 15.7%
5. Leaks 13.7%
6. Everything Else 5.3%
   

I thought I would focus on toilets, because they are one of the single largest users of water in your home. Older toilets used 3-5 gallons of water to flush. There are two ways that I see that you can reduce your toilets consumption; replace it or tweak it.
The tweaking is fairly straight forward, first, make sure it doesn't leak. Your local water agency should be able to provide you with a free leak test to determine if your toilet is leaking. Water leaking from the tank to the bowl will result in a constant drizzle of water down the drain and intermittent refilling of the tank. Since most residential toilets work on the principle of the siphon, you may never see the water going down the sewer line. The leak test will put dye into the tank which if you have a link will result in a change in color for the water in the bowl.
Having fixed any leakage, you can also reduce the amount of water used per flush by placing some ballast in the tank, you can use a soda or water bottle filled with water to displace its equivalent amount of water entering the tank. This will directly reduce the amount of water per flush by the amount of water displaced. However, because your old toilet isn't designed for the reduced amount of water, flush performace will be affected. There is no use reducing the amount of water in a flush by 2 liters only to have to flush twice every time you use the bathroom.
So, maybe you would rather buy a new toilet. You have two basic options, a high efficiency toilet (HET) with a reduced amount of gallons per flush or a dual-flush toilet with two flush options (typically up for #1 and down for #2). Home Depot lists 3 HETs for between $128-149 each. It lists a dual flush option for $289 online purchase only (and currently out of stock). Both offer huge savings over older models, but the HETs offer only .35 gallons savings over much cheaper 1.6 gpf toilets that are readily available. The dual-flush is a little harder to figure. The #1 flush uses about half of the water over a conventional toilet, but uses the same amount for a #2 flush as a typical 1.6 gpf toilet. So it depends on your families usage patterns how much you can save in that way.
Ultimately, a more efficient toilet will help to reduce your water usage, depending on what you currently have, it could cut your water consumption from toilet use by 75% up to 70 gallons per day!
Next time I will write about clothes washing machines, the #2 water consumer in the home.

The Key to Energy Efficiency

I am often asked what it is that I think is the most important part of designing energy efficient homes? The first thing that comes to mind is that you need to educate the building owner and occupants about energy conservation. This is a no brainer, consider the graph at the top of the page. Danny Parker gives a presentation where he talks about a housing development in Sacramento by Beazer homes. The homes are designed to be Zero Energy Homes (net energy of course). The homes are designed to perform identically, if the owners used them identically then the orange bars would all read the same. Obviously they don't.
So what is it about how we live in a house that can create a spread of over $1200 ? In theory, if the owner of house number 6 lived more like the owner of house 8, that would be $14200 per year in their pocket! The thing you should take away from the graph is that turning off lights, unplugging electronics that aren't in use, and probably setting the AC lower can have a sizeable effect on your bottom line.
As always, this doesn't only apply to energy. Similar graphs could be made with regards to water consumption and waste management. Our behavior is the number one thing that will effect the end performance of the building. Remember that in the graph above, all of the houses are designed to use the same or less energy than they produce. Two of the homes used more energy than your usual non-solar home, can you imagine how much their living habits would have cost in a conventional home?
The key to energy efficiency is you, and the way that you wisely manage the building you are in.