Nanawall

Door options for the studio and decks...

http://www.nanawall.com/

Let The Designing Begin

We've decided to partner with International Homes of Cedar (Seattle, WA) for our architectural and building design needs. My parents and I visited IHC last month in their Seattle offices and we impressed by their product. We're excited to spend the next 3-6 weeks working with their designers to help my family implement our vision by ensuring that each of the structures accurately reflect our unique desires while maintaining an overall cohesive feel for the entire compound. Below are some of our initial ideas:

A Traditional Paint Alternative That's Eco-Friendly

Tobias Stucco Interior Wall Finish is our eco-friendly answer for nasty, chemical paints and plasters. They've got an impressive selection of colors to chose from...

Check out their website - http://www.tobiasstucco.com

Ideas for small cabin (plot 4)

Here are some ideas I have for me and my brother's cabin. It takes the design from Resolution: 4 Architecture but has a few key additions to make the place "green." (Click on the pictures to read my ideas)

Green Components
- Solar panels on rooftop (enough southern facing roof space for 2-3 kilowatt system)
- Solar thermal collector and pipes on rooftop (at least 200 s/f of roof space) for hot water
- Radiant floor heating
- Recycled or composite stone for exterior foundation and fireplaces
- Reclaimed and/or renewable timber for mantels, trim, and floors
- Concrete mixed with slag or fly ash
- Low VOC adhesives and sealants and no-VOC paints
- Roof, wall, and floor insulation

GreenDepot Virtual Home

Here's a great resource for making green choices on a room to room basis.

http://www.greendepot.com/homeowner/virtualhome

Zoning Requirements From The Planning Commission

Just found out from the Riverside Planning Commission (telephone #: 951-955-6200) that our zoning classification, according to our assessor parcel numbers (APNs), is "SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING MOUNTAIN RESORT (R-1A ZONE)." Detailed regulations can be found on the Planning Commission's website, click here. But below is a brief overview of our zoning requirements:

Typical Uses Include:
One-family dwellings. Field crops, tree crops, greenhouses for propagation & culture. Noncommercial keeping of horses, miniature pigs for use of occupant only. Real estate and insurance offices as home occupations. Mobile home parks with an approved conditional use permit.

Minimum Lot Requirements:
Sq. feet: 7,200
Width: 60 feet
Depth: 100 feet

Minimum Setbacks:
Front: 20 feet
Side: 5 feet and/or 10 feet on corner lots (frontage on 2 streets)
Rear: 10 feet

Maximum Structural Height:
40 feet
Floors: 3

Other information I found out:

1.) Our area plan land-use designation is classified as "Very Low Density Residential (VLDR)", which correspond to single-family detached residences on large parcels where intensive animal keeping is discouraged.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ZONING CLASSIFICATIONS AND/OR LANDUSE DESIGNATIONS, WE CAN CALL THE COUNTY'S PLANNING DEPARTMENT AT 951-955-3200.

2.) Our zoning district/area is the Idyllwild district.

3.) Our parcel numbers (APN) are:
564-230-010
564-230-011
564-230-012
564-230-013
564-230-014
564-230-015
564-230-016
564-230-017

Green Plumbing and Radiant Heat Contractor

Enviro-Plumbing

Here's a company that may be able to meet our solar hot water, radiant flooring, and rainwater/greywater collection needs. They're locally based in LA, a GBC member, and certified by the Radiant Panel Association (RPA), which I've read is important when selecting a radiant heat flooring installer.

Metal Roffing Options

Colors and styles to choose from...

Metal Roofing Alliance

Title 24 - CA's Energy Efficiency Building Codes

We'll be following Title 24 (California's Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential Buildings) in conjunction with the design and construction of our homes. I'd like to use Title 24 as a benchmark and aim for at least a 15% improvement above the State's standards, in order to be eligible for certain incentives and certifications.

Learn more about Title 24 here

Site Plan

Click on the map for a closer look at the property's plans.

Yes, We Can Be (at least be close to) Carbon Neutral

My dad freaked out a bit last week after talking with my cousin about our building plans. After they discussed our idea of possibly using a cedar home builder in Washington, Adam raised a fair question that got my dad coming to me for the answer: if your plan is to go completely green, and market yourself as entirely 100% carbon neutral, then how do you account for your (indirect) carbon footprint of using a company that requires using wood - a natural resource - and transporting materials long distances? Adam raises a good point here, but not one that requires us to reconsider our plans of even building a house for us to live in. The original stated goal of our property is for it to become a living environment that is completely energy and water self-sufficient, 100% carbon neutral, and a showcase for environmentally friendly living. The 100% carbon neutral claim of course is called into question as a result of the Scope 2 emissions (our indirect carbon emissions) that result from our builders' business-as-usual actions. Sure, harveting and processing cedar timber, and delivering it by truck emits much CO2. However, there is a bigger picture here that needs to be understood in order to evaluate the sustainable aspects of our project.

The general consensus, which I agree with, is that carbon neutrality begins with "reduction". It's a focused effort to produce less waste and use more renewable energy. It's only after reduction has reached its limit, or its comfortable threshold, that carbon offsets can make up for the rest. This is the mentality and the marketing message preached in the voluntary carbon offset market (CCX, REGI, CCAR). For example, no one in the US can realistically say, 'I'm going to stop driving my car, stop flying on an airplane, or stop stop buying things for my family.' There's just no way we Americans, who consume and produce so much, can stop living this way. But instead, Americans can realistically decide to drive, fly, and shop less. Instead of driving 5 days to work, drive 3 days and ride the bus on the other days. Instead of taking 10 business trips across the country, take 5. These are reductions that are easy and make up the first part of a carbon neutral strategy. The other part of the strategy requires that you offset the emissions from your new, lighter carbon footprint. When you buy an offset, you fund projects that reduce GHG emissions, either by restoring forests, retrofitting power plants and factories, or increasing energy efficiency in buildings and transportation.

The above "reduce first, offset last" strategy is exactly our plan for Idyllwild. Reduce ideas we plan to implement are:

- Electric solar (a renewable resource) to power our house
- Energy efficient appliances and systems such as EnergyStar windows, doors, toilets, and faucets, radiant flooring systems, solar thermal hot water heating, rainwater collection
- Insulation from recycled cellulose or denim jeans
- Sustainable decking, flooring and countertop made from recycled materials or natural resources already on our property (wood for flooring, rocks for fireplace)

All the the above choices will reduce the energy and resource demands of our homes and therefore greatly reduce our carbon footprint. It then becomes the goal to neutralize our entire footprint by investing in offsets that equal the value in tons of CO2 emissions that we cannot reduce e.g. Scope 2, indirect emissions from home builders and contractors. Carbon offsets will let us pay to reduce the global GHG total instead of making impractical/impossible reductions of our own.

There are myriad of carbon calculators available to quantity carbon footprints on an individual, family, event or project basis. The plan right now is to use one of these in collaboration with our builder to come up with a specific carbon footprint for the life-cycle of our project. Once we have that number, we'll find a trusted offset company such as TERRAPASS or the CARBON FUND.

Are We Going To Be Carbon Neutral?

At last Saturday night’s fundraiser for the Science Discovery Center, I was talking to Adam about what’s happening with the Idyllwild sustainable family compound project. When I mentioned that we were considering working with “kit” builders in Seattle, he immediately questioned our commitment to being “green.” His point was that the manufacturing and transportation processes involved in this kind of effort can severely mitigate its intended positive environmental and ecological results. I told him we are only talking to manufacturers who themselves propound to adhere to stringent green standards, plus it is our intention to use reclaimed and reusable materials wherever and whenever possible. Still, Adam makes a valid, albeit a rather puristic, point, especially regarding the increased carbon emissions generated by the considerable transportation related emissions involved in dealing with a remote supplier.

Question for the team – how do we deal with this issue?

Do we refuse to use construction materials except those available locally, even on our own property? (This is probably the greenest approach, but is it practical?)

Do we buy carbon credits to offset our increased emissions? If so, how do we do this and what will it cost?

Do we simply ignore this problem and justify it by assuming that everything else we’re doing to create a green environment will itself provide the offsets we’re looking for?

Questons Answered About Electricity

My dad and I had a meeting with a SCE service planning rep yesterday. We asked a bunch of questions regarding the electrical equipment that has already been installed on the property by the previous owner. We basically need to figure out how the electricity is feeding the 7 plots so that we can best design the solar PV systems we plan on installing.

Here's what we found out:

First, the good news is that so much of the work has been done. The SCE rep seemed impressed (and relieved) at the equipment already in place (roughly $40,000 worth). We've got 2 transformers and a splitter. One of the transformers is located on the lower part of the property and runs conduit to supply electricity to 3-4 of the plots (probably plots 1, 7, and 2). This transformer is looped to another transformer located higher on the property, which runs electricity through wires to the remaining 3-4 plots. The splitter looks very similar to the transformers (big green steel box) and is located on our side of the fence near the utility pole running just along the outside of the fence. The way it works is grid electricity is fed from the lines down a split wire into the splitter, then feed into the first transformer, which is looped to the second transformer. This is how we're tied to the SCE electric grid. Confusing? Very...

So what does this tell us about how to install our PV systems? Well, it probably means that we're looking at a distributed system, whereby we've got smaller, separate PV systems dedicated to its own plot and tied to that home's meter. This means 7 systems (panels and inverter), 7 SCE meters, and 7 individual net metering agreements at the property (1 per address). So now we're faced with sizing systems per plot, which may cost more (we don't know yet) since we're looking at more hardware overall. But the advantages of distributed power (individual systems on each plot) is that it makes selling or renting out individual houses in the future much more feasible.

This set up is in stark contrast to our original plan of having one very large, concentrated solar PV system that fed one SCE meter for all 7 plots on the entire property. This method, we concluded, would allow us to put solar panels on the sunniest parts of the property, without regard to its vicinity to each house/plot. But we found out that we'd need to add a new mega transformer that fed all 7 plots, which is costly, time-consuming, and would essentially make the 2 smaller transformers on the property useless.

The question with this setup now becomes: could, for example, electricity credits generated on house/plot #1 when no one's living there be used for house/plot #3 (which will be our main house and where we'll stay most of the time) to cover its electricity needs? We certainly hope so. The rep we met yesterday didn't know the answer to this question.

-Jeff