NOT UNDERSTANDING THE REASONING
As I got older I assumed I would also get wiser. I think there is some corny saying about wisdom coming with age or some such thing but I’ve run into something I just don’t understand. I am referring to the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) refusal to provide even moderate continuing funding for the MIST/CHF loan program.
There are a lot of acronyms thrown around: MIST means Moderate Income Sustainable Technology program, CHF is California Homebuyers Fund. I’ve talked about the CHF loan program in this space before. It was a one year program and was started with a grant of almost $20mil in March of 2011, but didn’t really get rolling until May of last year.
It’s a very simple program in design and operation. CHF is the administrator of the program and is a joint powers group of involving 50 Counties in California.
The program consists of a long term low (or in some Counties no) interest loan to install anything at your home that proves to be cost effective in saving energy, and to help create jobs. The interest rate for the areas that have interest is 3% and the loan term is 15 years. Qualifying is simple; the liberal upper end income guideline for Mendocino County is $87,400 or less for a household. There are no appraisals no credits checks, no loan to value, you don’t even need a wet ink signature on anything. You must have a source of income (other than unemployment), be current on your mortgage and property taxes, and meet the income guidelines, and the project must prove cost effective on “Energy Pro”, the computer software used for new home construction Title24 calculations. That’s it.
FULL SPEED AHEAD
Our company got a late start and really only had 4 months to work with this program before the $20mil in funding was depleted. All during this time we questioned why we were told to keep pushing full speed ahead with applications, and we questioned the rational of continuing to add additional Counties to the list of participants when it was obvious the money would be gone soon. The answer was that there was “nothing official, of course” but that there was going to be an infusion of capital to keep the program going.
During the 4 months we had to work with this fantastic program (if we count the project still waiting to be finished) we will had 14 projects completed. All had insulation upgrades, almost every single one had a high efficiency furnace installed, more than half had new dual pane windows put in, 5 had solar P.V. systems, 4 had new “cool roofs”. We had several generated utility savings of over 70%, with one at 82%. That would mean someone with a $450 mo. heating cost would drop that to $81. The average savings was in the 35-40% range. The average project resulted in a potential of over 6 TONS of CO2 removed from the air.
We had clients who said they could no longer afford to live normally in their homes because of the cost of heating and cooling them. 14 very wasteful, inefficient, costly homes were turned into extremely efficient ones.
I can say that without the CHF loan program that I don’t think even one of these projects would have happened. Why? Because these are “Whole House Retrofits” If you are going to cut a buildings heating costs by 82% you have to change out a lot of inefficient old equipment and upgrade a lot non-existent insulation and infiltration items, you must address the whole house. And that costs money. These jobs ranged from $22,000 to $81,000. But in every case the amount saved more than made the loan payment. At 3% $10k costs only $69.05 mo. And we have a number of rebate program out there so a person could get the loan and do the work and then get up to $6000 in rebates and another $9,000 in tax credits (for solar).
There would simply be no other way for these folks to have this kind of upgrade done without the CHF loan program.
THE QUESTION
So, this is the thing I simply do no understand. I do just not understand why the CEC is choosing not to fund this program any longer. After less than one year of being highly successful. We just had an expose a few weeks ago that said millions of dollars of unspent stimulus money would have to go back to the general fund because it was not going to fund energy conservation, it’s stated target. We also hear regular discussions of large amounts of money earmarked for energy conservation sitting unspent in programs that can not spend the money before they will loose it, and the CEC is the body with the power to move that money to where it will be the most useful. Why do they not consider adding additional funding to a program with a staff in place, trained contractors signing clients up for work, a backlog of work of several million dollars, an inspection process that involves an independent third party inspection of each job to deter fraud, verifiable results, low administration costs, and word of mouth advertising that will carry it into 2013?
Their one comment was that they had this new program they were going to fund with $25mil that was going to be “just like the CHF MIST” program except that instead of giving the administration to the same joint powers group, they would give it to a group of bankers to distribute. Now I don’t know if any of you has been to a bank recently but I don’t think you’ll find a group of people on this earth less willing to loan money out right now as a group of bankers, especially for 15 years at 3%, with no collateral or appraisal, or loan to value.
So, I’d like to know from anyone out there, or from anyone connected to the CEC especially. If anyone has any idea why the people who we put in the position of trust, who we trust to do the right things with our tax payer and rate payer money, why they would act in a way that seems so counter productive to the best interests of the general public. Somewhere, someone made decisions that to me just do not make sense. Was it just a matter of money?
SHOWER HEADS AND FLUORESCENTS
One of PG&E’s latest incentive programs for energy conservation is the EUC rebate program. This is actually a Statewide program and is administered in our area by PG&E. It has two levels of participation. The advanced level has been the most popular by far. This is where a home assessment is done and a computer determines potential energy savings things you can do to your home and you can get up to $4,000 in rebates if you actually install the recommended items. The less well known part of the program is called the “Basic” path and it consists of a package of things that a homeowner must do to their home in order to receive a rebate. These are: add attic insulation, seal your HVAC ducts, air infiltration sealing, insulate the hot water pipes from the water heater to where they disappear into the wall, and make sure you have low flow shower heads, and one more thing, install a thermostatically controlled shower flow sensor valve. If you do all of these things, and have some safety testing done on the way out, PG&E will pay the first $1,000 of the cost to have these things done as a rebate. One drawback is you must need all of the items in order to qualify. So your home must have central heating and must have an attic that needs insulation. But it’s not a bad deal because if your house is medium size all that work can be done for well under $2,000 so you get more than half of it paid for. If it’s a small home it may be close to free. If you happen to live in the City of Ukiah and have central A/C you can double up on City rebates also. But the reason I bring all this up is the shower valve. Until I ran across this stipulation I had never heard of a “thermostatically controlled shower shut-off valve” and they are a really cool thing that I wish I had heard about before.
THERMOSTATICALLY CONTROLLED SHOWER VALVE
You see they are a little thing about an inch long and you take off the shower head and you put this valve on the shower pipe coming out of the wall, and then put the shower head back on. Now, when you turn the shower on, as soon as the water warms up to 95 degrees this valve shuts the water off. So you can be off doing the normal things you do while waiting for the water to get warm and you won’t be wasting all that water that got warm in 2 ½ minutes but ran for 15. When you are ready you just pull on a little cord and the hot water starts flowing and in you go. So far I’ve only seen one company making the thing, so It may be a proprietary item. They say it saves 2,700 gallons of water per year which costs about $75, and they cost between $20-$40 plus installation. They are called “Ladybug Shower Head Adaptor” and you can get them online. My wife went to a conference in Southern California and the hotel had these Ladybug controls. Most of the showers had waterproof placards explaining what they were and how they worked. A few of the rooms had their placards missing. And some of these folk went ahead and got in and soaped up while waiting for the water to warm up. But everyone else liked them.
MANDATES ARE COMING
Another thing I wanted to remind everyone about is the upcoming T-12 fluorescent lighting phase-out mandate. As of July 2012 (8 mos.) the T-12 fluorescent lamps can no longer be made or imported, or I would assume sold, in the U.S. There are still a heck of a lot of buildings out there with the old T-12 fluorescents lights in them. This doesn’t really apply to households as much as businesses. Both the City of Ukiah and PG&E have programs to help defray the cost to change to the newer, more efficient T-8 style. If you are not sure which you have, the number after the “T” corresponds to the bulb diameter in eights of an inch. So a T-12 lamp is 12/8 or 1 ½” in diameter while the newer T-8 is one inch. I just found that the EPA act of 2005 has been extended thru 2014 and the amount spent by businesses to upgrade their lighting, HVAC units, and/or building envelope (insulation) can receive accelerated depreciation. The entire cost can be depreciated at up to $1.80 per sq ft.
If you are a business owner and you have upgraded your heating or lighting or building envelope and you haven’t claimed this, or you are thinking of doing this kind of work, you can email me and I’ll send you a copy of the tax code. With the help from the utility companies and the tax benefits a lighting conversion can be done for very little net cost in the end. With the mandated loss of the T-12 lamps and ballasts your gonna have to convert at some point in time anyway.
COOL ROOFS
We have a topic we can now discuss that until recently had been outside our sphere of interest in energy conservation, and that topic is the “cool roof”. Most people tend to think of either the white “Snow-coat” you put on a metal mobile home roof, or that brilliant silver comp shingle or 90 lb. rolled roofing you see on low slope roofs when the term “cool roof” is used. And while those are examples of early cool roofs the products have come a long way. They are of interest to us now because a cool roof is a fundable item under the CHF loan program and PG&E will also pay a rebate on it which makes it worth looking into if you have a roof that is going to need replacing soon.
So, what is a cool roof? There are substances that can be added to a number of different roofing types that cause it to react differently to sunlight. There are two measurements that pertain to a cool roof, “high solar reflectance”, which is the ability to reflect light, at all wavelengths including infrared and ultraviolet, and “high thermal emittance” which is the ability to radiate absorbed solar energy. Both of these measurements are on a scale of between 0 & 1 where 0 indicates a surface that absorbs all solar radiation and 1 represents total reflectivity. The number is expressed as a percent or decimal. Almost every kind of roofing has a cool roof option. Built-up roofing, foam roofing, metal, comp shingle, slate, tile, single ply torch-down, pretty much any kind of roofing has a cool roof branch of the family. They do tend to cost a bit more because the processes required and the special materials needed to cause the sun to “reflect” and “emit” from their surfaces in the proscribed manner are more expensive than the standard materials. But it’s worth in over time. Both the DOE and EPA have calculators at the CRRC website where you can figure your payback and get much more information. And they come in far more interesting colors than white and silver. You won’t find black but you will find shades of dark brown and greens and the “textured” look of the 40 & 50 year comp shingle products, while some carry a lifetime guarantee.
A STUDY DONE
In 2001 the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs did a study on a big building in Texas. They took a lot of summer time measurements while this building had its standard black built-up roof, and then put on a new vinyl membrane cool roof and took the same summer measurements. They found the surface temperature dropped an average of 43 degrees, the average daily temperature went from 168 to 125 degrees, this cut the air conditioner average use by 11% and peak use by 14% and cut the buildings one year cooling costs by $.07 per sq ft or $7,200. Must have been an airplane hanger. But the point is the cool roof works. If it didn’t PG&E wouldn’t be offering a rebate on it. You have to live in climate zones 2,4,11,12,or13, all the zones with lots of cooling degree days. They offer $.20 per sq ft and you can include the overhangs. But what’s really cool, so to speak, is if you need a roof and you qualify for a CHF loan (make less than $87,200 yr, current on mortgage & prop. Taxes). Then you can get the cool roof as part of your 3% loan (Mendocino, Sonoma, 0% in Lake County) and then you get to stick the PG&E rebate in your pocket. And the loan will even cover tear-off and new plywood over skip sheathing if you had a wood shingle roof.
FREE HOME ENERGY ASSESSMENTS
Here is something else that just started that ties into all we’ve been discussing. If you want to know how energy efficient your home is (or isn’t) and to get an idea of what you might be able to do about it, or if you want to see if you can participate in one of the PG&E or CHF loan programs, the first step is a home energy assessment. The CEC has sponsored a rebate for the cost of this home assessment. Administered by Ecology Action and funded by ARRA monies it makes this service free. You can Google Energy Upgrade California, put in your zip code and follow the prompts for the $500 assessment rebate. That’s the first step in a cool roof and some cool information on energy savings. Sign up for the free HERS II rating and get a low interest CHF loan. There’s funding through the end of the year, so don’t wait too long.
MORE SUN POWER
Last time we were discussing solar hot water systems and a little bit on how they worked and the rebates available for them. The other kind of solar system available is the solar P.V. or Photovoltaic system. If anyone should care about such things, “Photo” is from the Greek word meaning light, and “voltaic” refers to “volt” a unit ofelectromotive force.Turning solar energy into an electrical charge was discovered by a guy named A.E. Becquerel back in 1839, although there wasn’t an actual “solar cell”until someone named Charles Fritts coated some seleniumwith a thin layer of gold in 1883. The efficiency of this cell was 1%. The concept really didn’t go much of anywhere for quite some time as there just wasn’t any reason to develop a product that took in sunlight and produced electrical power. They weren’t very efficient and the batteries of the day weren’t much better. And besides about the only thing people were using portable energy for was for lamps to light their homes, and we had whale oil for that and what the heck, we had an unlimited supply of whales, right?
TELSTAR
It was the space race and our communications satellites that really gave the solar industry the jump start it needed. Bell labs developed the first modern solar cell in 1954 and added them to their Vanguard and Telstar satellites. We take it for granted now, but up until that time they would launch a satellite and it would run until… the batteries went dead. And then that multi million dollar piece of equipment was just abandoned, because it had no more power.
But that was the start the industry needed and, like computers, the price and function started getting better exponentially every year.
The way a solar panel works is a sheet of material is exposed to the sun. There are various materials, most have long, hard expensive names, and somehow silicone is involved. These sheets of materials are made into panels and protected by glass. The silicone based materials have impurities, and when the sunlight strikes these impurities they react by giving off a small electrical charge. Not much by itself but if you are able to multiply that many, many times as you do when you have a whole sheet in a panel, you have something that generates a usable amount of electricity. And it generates direct current or D.C. Direct current is not what you use in your home. D.C. is what you use in your car. Direct current always flows in one direction. A/C or alternating current alternates, and changes direction. It alternates and changes direction and flows back to the power plant, and it does this 60 times a second, and no, I have no idea how it does this or why.
So, in order for the D.C. power to be usable in your home it must be converted to A.C current, and trained to change directions very quickly, as noted above. The thing that does this is called an “inverter”. These are a very important part of the system and if they fail the system can not function. My understanding is the latest inverters are mounted with, or can even be part of, the panel itself and have become very dependable.
OFF THE GRID
The last component of the system are the storage batteries. If you are completely “off the grid” you will need storage batteries to store the excess power so you can use it when it is needed. Such as at night or when the sun isn’t shining or when you are using more power than you are producing at that moment. If you are a utility customer you can use the power company as your storage battery. Your electric meter will actually run backward as you feed power into the public grid and then reverse as you use more power than you produce. Once a year they “settle-up” and you either pay what you owe or they will pay you if you have produced and put in more power into the public grid than you have consumed. I don’t know about the City of Ukiah, but the rate that PG&E pays ($.04 kwh) is about one third of the lowest tier they charge their customers. But they still offer a rebate, and the Feds still have the 30% tax credit and the City of Ukiah still has their rebate which, last I heard was at $1.96 kwh, so you can still get a large portion of a solar P.V. system paid for. Then there are the year after year energy savings and I believe tax credits out a number of years. Something else you need to consider, smart meters. We are all getting one and that can mean “time-of-use” billing. That means on those 11 hottest days of the year, during the hot mid-day hours, you’ll either be paying a super premium to run your A/C or you are not going to be running it. The cool people will have solar.
SUN POWER
If you own or live in a home that is more than a couple of years old you may be paying more than you are comfortable with to heat and cool the place. As we’ve said many times here, up until just a few years ago not much attention was paid to the energy efficiency of a building, or how much it was going to cost to heat it or cool it. Our various forms of energy, whether is was electric or gas, were so inexpensive that it was cheaper to build homes with lots of infiltration and just throw in a larger furnace to compensate. And up until the 1970’s oil crisis that worked just fine. After that we started to realize that it does in fact cost money to change the temperature of the air around us, and some people started to look for solutions. The building codes started to change but that takes time and now, forty something years later we are finally seeing building codes that force builders to construct homes that don’t waste as much energy. My point being we have a heck of a lot of houses that need help as far as energy conservation. We have a couple of good programs out there at present, and one in particular is very generous in that it is a low interest loan to help people make their homes more energy efficient, and one of the items you can borrow money to install to help your home is a solar system. We have been receiving a lot of questions about solar systems recently so I thought I’d pass along the little bit that I know about solar.
THE KINDS
When someone calls and says they want a solar system on their home the first thing we need to know is what kind they want. There are two basic types of systems that do two different things, both getting their power from the sun. The first kind and most basic and oldest is solar hot water. If you set a cup of water out in the sun to get warm you have a solar water heater. Some of the earlier systems used coils of plastic pipe run across a person’s roof which would get the water inside them hot as the sun beat down on them, and this was stored in a big storage tank. This was a pretty simple basic system with almost no moving parts. The obvious problem being if the system is not drained down in the winter the pipes freeze and bad things happen. And of course in our climate zone we don’t get enough sun to depend on solar to provide year round hot water, although I’m sure several solar guys would argue the point with me.. So the solar system is only used as a back-up to a primary system of gas or electric hot water. However, if you can get the sun to heat or even pre-heat your water for free (after purchase and installation cost) then it’s a bargain. The newer systems of course are much improved. The water no longer runs through the pipes on the roof. A fluid such as oil or an anti-freeze is used and solar powered pumps make sure the lines are drained when it gets cold and solar motors turn the panel array to follow the sun to capture every available photon. The panel designs have come a long way. The technology and improvements have made the new systems almost maintenance free, and panel size is such that a solar hot water and a solar photovoltaic system can both fit on the same roof of a standard sized home. And we still have rebates for the solar hot water systems, if you have an existing electric hot water heater the rebate can be substantial. But the Federal tax credits are the real inspiration, with a first year credit of 30% of the installed cost in a check back from the Feds. I’ve seen the first year tax credit and the rebate cover half the cost of a new system.
These new systems have very few moving parts, I would think they would be good for many years, and with the 3% loan for 15 years that is funded through a CEC grant many people are taking advantage. If a person has the correct kind of roof, facing in the correct direction, and his neighbors trees don’t block the sun (or some arrangements can be made), a decent solar hot water system may make financial sense for a lot of people. But you gotta do the math. Give it some thought and next time we’ll look at photovoltaic.
FOR “DO-IT-YOURSELFERS”
I belong to a group called “Solar Sonoma County”, which may sound confusing until you realize we have an office in Santa Rosa and we work with solar contractors in Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties. They are an informed bunch who keep everyone up-to-date regarding the current status of the energy conservation programs happening in Northern California. And they don’t seem to get overly upset if someone should happen to fall asleep during one of their evening meetings.
A local building supply store with three outlets, two in Sonoma County and one in Ukiah, wanted to have a member of Solar Sonoma speak for half an hour about simple things that homeowners could do to their homes to save energy, using items found right there in that very store. I was asked, and as penance for the aforementioned sleep issue, gladly accepted. At first I was slated for the Sonoma store and someone from somewhere in Sonoma County was penciled in for the Ukiah branch. We did a little horse trading and I ended up with my 1/2 hour of fame being last Saturday at 11:00 in Ukiah.
To make a long story short, people in Ukiah had other things to do last Saturday at 11:00, or maybe someone forgot to tell someone or who knows, but anyway no one showed up, except one customer who I grabbed 10 minutes in and we talked for the rest of the 30 minutes.
So, since I did do some preparation, I hate to see that kind of thing go to waste so I thought I’d just go ahead and put the 20 minute “do-it-yourself” lecture in writing here.
So here goes:
THE NEW CFL’S
I don’t know if you have noticed yet but you can no longer buy a 100 watt incandescent light bulb. Really!. This is the result of a Mandate passed in 2007 and signed by President Bush called the “Energy Independence and Security Act”, and is actually due to take effect on a Federal level next year. California decided to start a year early. It effectively bans any bulb over 72 watts, and by 2014 will apply to the 75, 60 and even 40 watt incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs are highly inefficient, turning 90% of the consumed energy into heat while only 10% goes to light. In place of the incandescent will be the CFL or Compact Fluorescent Lamp. When first commercially produced about 25 years ago, they were great. I can show you bulbs I installed 25 years ago that are still burning. The downfall was price. They were in the $15.00/$20.00 range. So the makers started working on cheaper bulbs and by about 15 years ago we had CFL’s that were in the $1-$2 range. But they had a 25% failure rate out of the box and the other 75% you couldn’t see to read by. So people hated them. Now, more research and development, and we again have great CFL’s, this time affordable. IF you get the right one. Something the early makers did was to only make the bulbs in the 2000-3000 Kelvin range. Kelvin is a way to measure the color or brightness of the light and in the 2100K range the light tends to look brownish. If you look at this 13 watt CFL in 2100K (at this point I happen to have a little clamp-on light fixture with the appropriate CFL) and then compare the same 13 watt but in 6500K, you’ll see a world of difference. 6500 Kelvin is really close to natural sunlight. If you go right over there to the light isle and buy CFLs and make sure you are getting them in the higher Kelvin ranges (at least 4500) I can just about guarantee you’ll like them. I can’t tell the difference myself between them and incandescent. And they make them in 3 way, in floodlights, in candle shape, and even dimmable CFL’s now. And I have seen them as cheap as $.99. Get used to them, you have until 2014 to really like them.
. MOVING ON TO DUCT SEALING
O.K., now we’re going to look at how you can seal your own heat ducts. I have here a heat register like you find on your floor or on your ceiling. This is where the heated or cooled air comes out after it leaves your furnace or A/C. Studies have been done by PG&E that show a large percentage, 28%-40%, of your conditioned air is simply not making it to your home. It’s running out under your home or into your attic. That’s huge! Somewhere between one quarter and almost one half (or average one third) of the air you paid to change the temperature is being wasted. But you can do something about it. Pull up the register, even though there are screw holes there are never any screws, unless your ducts are in the ceiling, in which case take the screws out first. If you have floor registers, take a few minutes at this point and get the vacuum out and get a flashlight and vacuum out the duct. You’ll be amazed at what you find. There are always a couple of petrified lizards, I don’t know how they can possibly get in there, whether they crawl in from the house, or from a gap under the house, or maybe they’re installed at the factory, but they are always there. There always seems to be an apple core, and it’s always bigger than the openings in the register, and money. Yes, there’s always lots of money down in the vents. So remember that when you’re looking for parking meter change.
Vacuum them out good and try to do it a couple times a year. Now, what you want to do is take this special tape (available over on the tape isle) that says “181” on it, and tape the metal duct that the register fits into to the plywood sub-floor (or to the drywall if you have ceiling registers). The idea is for the air to come up the duct and straight out the register, without any other avenues of escape possible. You don’t want the air to be able to double back and go down the gap between the backside of the sheet metal “boot” and the plywood or drywall (at this point I hold up my sheet metal boot and register and my piece of cardboard I was using for the floor or drywall). BTW- you can not use duct tape. You can not use cloth backed duct tape on heat ducts in California. You will go to duct prison. Not really but it is strictly forbidden. It’s been found that after just two or three years of the hot & cold cycles the mastic looses sticking ability and whatever you have taped is no longer. One more thing, beware the carpet tack strip. If you have floor registers and carpet, and you pull the register up, the carpet guy has probably lined the register hole with pieces of wood with tacks in them, and they are sticking in your direction. They not only have barbs on them but a special chemical designed to hurt like the dickens. If you should place your palm or kneecap on a tack strip and bear down, it is a feeling you will never forget, and your family will see a new side of you.
So, that concludes my presentation to the multitudes at the building supply house and the small crowed has grown to several hundred and thunderous applause. And then I wake up in a Solar Sonoma County meeting.
AIR CONDITIONING
With the time of year being what it is, it seems like an ideal time to talk a bit about air conditioning systems. Your A/C system is like your garbage disposal in that it will pick the worst possible time to malfunction, like Thanksgiving afternoon. And if you are used to having it around and in working order it becomes a major inconvenience when it suddenly becomes unable to perform.
There are several different styles of air conditioners, from the simple single room type and the “thru-wall” style that are meant for small homes or to condition part of the home, to the central split system style which is part of a full central ducted heating and cooling system. They all work on the same principal. Let’s look at a split system. A refrigerant is circulated inside a copper line, and is fed into a compressor. The compressor usually sits by itself in the back yard and has a big fan that blows when the A/C is on, it’s about the size of a large doghouse but taller. The compressor compresses the refrigerant (which is a gas at this point) and squeezes it into a liquid. Heat is generated during this compression and that heat is drawn off and discarded (by that fan). The compressed refrigerant is then transported inside its copper line to the main HVAC unit, probably inside your house or garage. The super cold liquid refrigerant is run thru a coil of tubing with air blowing over it, allowed to expand and turn back into a gas. As the refrigerant expands it recaptures most of the heat from the air that was taken from it when it was compressed. And it is recapturing it from the very air that will be blowing into your home in a few more seconds. That’s how air conditioning works. You can, with some minor changes, reverse the process and you’ll have a heater. You’ve seen this type of heater/ air conditioner on motels everywhere, they’re called heat pumps.
SEERS & EERS
The effectiveness or efficiency of an air conditioner is measured in a couple of ways. For many years the standard has been the SEER. This is the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, but more recently the EER (just plain Energy Efficiency Ratio) has started to gain in popularity. The EER is supposedly the more accurate of the two and is the preferred designation moving into the future. For now we still use SEER, and a minimum of 13 SEER is what is required for a new A/C installed today. Some of our older housing stock in the 30 & 35 year old range have air conditioners that have reached the end of their useful life. These older A/C’s are average 8 SEER units. They also use an old style refrigerant called RA22 that has been found to damage the earth’s ozone layer and therefore has been banned. All newer equipment has the newer R410A refrigerant.
While a 13 SEER is certainly much more efficient than an 8 SEER unit, 13 is just a minimum. There are air conditioners that go up over 19 SEER. These units are real trick. Like their partners in the furnace world, they have a two stage cooling capability by utilizing two compressors, and they have a variable speed fan. So when your home is cooled to temperature, only the single smaller compressor needs to come on and the fan only needs to blow at a slow speed to keep the home cool. You’ll hardly hear or feel anything. These units are usually set to come on with no heat or cool every so often just to stir the air to keep it fresh. The new HVAC systems have come a long way, and it’s going to be needed. As soon as everyone has a smart meter, if we should have to go to “time-of-use” billing, those people that still have those 8 SEER A/C units may find they can’t afford to run them.
Something else I’ve heard is that solar Photo Voltaic systems are finally coming down in price enough that with the tax credits and rebates it starts to make sense to look at being able to run your A/C all summer for only the cost of the solar investment. Summer months of no A/C electrical bills, might be worth looking into.
One thing that can hurt the performance of your air conditioner as well as your furnace, no matter how new or how efficient, is a dirty filter. Check them every couple of months and more often if you find them dirty. For the small price of a filter it’s well worth having a clean one in the system at all times.
Guest Column by Orion Walker
Sustainable Technology at Mendocino College For just over a year now I’ve been working for the Dean of Career and Technical Education at Mendocino College to develop and launch a new program with the aim of preparing students for business and job opportunities related to sustainability or “green jobs.” People often ask me, “so what is a green job anyway?” and my response generally goes something like this: Whatever industry or profession you are in, there is a segment of that industry or profession that is “going green.” Whether you are an electrician, a store owner, a farmer, or a mechanic, there are folks in your profession who are figuring out how to do things more efficiently, use less energy, produce less waste, reduce carbon emissions, conserve resources, eliminate toxins, or some other aspect of “being green,” and generally you’ll find that this is one of the fastest growing niches within your industry as a whole. What this means for education and training in our local community is that we need to look within well established industries, particularly those that are non-exportable, and find the opportunity points for growth and innovation. While the current economic downturn has certainly slowed construction and related industries, there is going to be an ongoing need for people who can assess, maintain, repair, heat and cool, remodel, and upgrade our homes and businesses. These are jobs that generally pay fairly well, and they aren’t going anywhere. Additionally, opportunities in solar, green construction, energy efficiency, energy performance auditing, retrofitting, HVAC, and other niche areas continue to show significant opportunity. Labor market data suggests that with many reaching retirement age, new job opportunities will exist for younger workers with technical training, particularly those with knowledge and skills related to sustainability, energy efficiency, and clean technology. The new Sustainable Technology Program at Mendocino College intends to meet this opportunity by focusing on three core elements: hands-on technical skill development, knowledge of sustainability (green) principles and practices, and business and entrepreneurship knowledge and skill development. The combination of these competencies will prepare students for adaptability as traditional trade industries continue to evolve, and position students for success in new and emerging technical industries. In today’s shifting economy it isn’t enough to focus solely on technical skill development. Students need to understand the context in which an industry is changing and evolving. It is also important, particularly in a rural economy such as ours, to prepare students to be creative in the job market. You can’t expect to just walk into a job opportunity. The vast majority of businesses in our region are 1 or 2 person businesses. We need to prepare students for this reality by including development of business and entrepreneurial skills. This will allow students to focus in on areas of opportunity and position themselves for success. Within the Sustainable Technology Program three new certificates of achievement are now available for students to complete: Renewable Energy, Construction, and Residential Performance and Efficiency. These certificates require 32-34 units of coursework. Completing one certificate will generally take 3 semesters, with a second or third certificate taking an additional 1-2 semesters. In each of these certificates a strong emphasis is placed on hands-on contextual learning. Students complete work experience internships to gain invaluable on-the-job experience and a vacant house on the Ukiah campus will be used as a project lab and testing space allowing students to learn in a typical real-world setting. Students have the opportunity to get started on these certificates starting on August 22nd with seven new courses that are now open for enrollment: SST - 162 - Safety Standards for Construction - 1.5 units SST - 164 - Understanding Blueprints, Diagrams, and Schematics - 3 units SST - 170 - Sustainability Overview - 3 units SST - 172 - Intro to Clean Tech - 3 units SST - 180 - Construction Fundamentals and Green Building - 3 units SST - 193 - Building Science and Home Performance - 3 units SST - 196 - SST Occupational Work Experience - 1-8 units These courses will take place on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday for the fall semester. Students can enroll in the full series or pick and choose courses as they like. For registration assistance contact the counseling department at 707.468.3048 or visit www.mendocino.edu. For more information on the new Sustainable Technology Program, contact Orion Walker at 468-3224, owalker@mendocino.edu or visit www.mendocino.edu/sustainabletech Orion Walker is a business and sustainability consultant with expertise in entrepreneurship and renewable energy. He is the Sustainable Technology Program Coordinator and a part time instructor at Mendocino College. He holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University
THE NEXT GENERATION Over the course of the last year or so, I’ve had the great opportunity to work with a group of local contractors and a gentleman by the name of Orion Walker on a project for Mendocino College. Orion was retained as a consultant to Mendocino College to help research and develop new courses and certificates to prepare students for emerging career opportunities related to energy conservation, renewable energy and sustainability principals. The results of this work are seven new courses that will be offered this fall semester, which lead toward three new Certificates of Achievement. These Certificates are so new that the college is still waiting for approval from the State Chancellor’s Office, but that will come long before the end of the three semesters it takes to earn one. These courses and certificates form the basis of a new Sustainable Technology program now coming together at Mendocino College. Since we have a populace in our County that is more forward thinking than most on the topic of green building, recycling and renewable energy, we feel the available education should reflect those ideals and our County should be a leader in teaching these practices. NEW CLASSES AT MENDOCINO COLLEGE These first basic classes are: (1) Safety Standards for Construction, (2) Understanding Blueprints, Diagrams and Schematics, (3) Fundamentals of Construction and Green Building, (4) Building Science and Home Performance, (5) Sustainability Overview, (6) Introduction to Clean Tech, and (7) Work Experience in Sustainable Tech. The title of the classes pretty much explains the curriculum and what they’re all about. The Safety Standards class teaches basic jobsite safety and rewards its students with a Cal OSHA-10 certification card upon completion. The Blueprints, Diagrams and Schematics is self explanatory, you learn to read blueprints and all the accompanying documents that tell a builder how a structure is to be put together, and where, as well as wiring diagrams and other types of schematics. The Fundamentals of Green Building is as it sounds, how to build a structure with an eye towards conservation and sustainability, and gives a person the basic skills needed to distinguish themselves as someone who understands the concepts of building efficiency to a potential employer. The Building Science and Home Performance class is the one for the hardcore serious green student. It explains the basics of how the various systems in a home can be made to work together with energy conservation and efficiency being the goal. Class members will get hands-on experience with the various pieces of testing equipment used to assess and monitor the relative performance of a structure as it pertains to energy usage. An introduction to HERS (Home Energy Rating System) is also a part of this course. The Sustainability Overview is a general introduction to green and sustainability concepts. The Intro to Clean Tech is a look at emerging green/clean technologies, from electric vehicles, to solar, to LED lighting. ACHIEVEMENT CERTIFICATES The three Certificates of Achievement that can be attained through taking and passing these classes all fall under the banner of “Sustainable Technology” and are: (1) Construction Certificate of Achievement, (2) Renewable Energy Certificate of Achievement, and (3) Residential Performance and Efficiency Certificate of Achievement. All of these Certificates prepare a person for an entry level position at one of the businesses that make energy conservation or renewable energy a major part of their business plan. We have major players in the solar industry in Hopland and Willits as well as a number of Ukiah based companies that install solar systems or other conservation minded products as a part of their business. As construction foremen and job superintendents always seem to be complaining about the lack of trained help in their area of expertise, and the field of green building in particular, these classes and Certificates will go a long way towards prepping workers to enter a field that should grow quickly over the next decade and beyond. Energy conservation, energy efficiency, green building and sustainable technologies are going to become a much bigger part of everyday life as we attempt to use less of a product that the world is running out of. THE LAB The College has a whole complete house right on campus that will be used as a lab and learning center. It’s a 50 year old house built at a time when there was no concern about energy usage, which makes it an ideal house to learn energy conservation concepts in and a great way to get real-world hands-on experience. So now all they need are some students. Enrollment is now open, space is limited, and classes will start August 22nd. You can find out more at www.mendocino.edu/sustainabletech or by giving Orion a call at 707.468.3224 or emailing him at owalker@mendocino.edu If all goes well, it is my understanding that more in-depth and specialty targeted classes will be added in the coming semesters. It would be exceptional if Mendocino College could become known as “the” place to come for energy conservation studies. So even if your goal is not employment in the green building industry, these classes can be a fantastic educational opportunity, just to learn for the sake of knowledge in an upcoming and fascinating field. For everyone and anyone.
LOCALS WHO HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT This column is about energy conservation, and trying to convince people who are possibly “undecided” that they really can do a DIY project, or convince them that the rewards are enough to where they can actually hire someone else to do the deed. We try to do that by taking a project from start to finish to show how easy it can be done, or to at least give them the nomenclature to be able to discuss the project with a contractor. One of the most successful motivators can be actual case studies, where we go over real projects right here in your own back yard. It seems to mean more if we can refer to a project that belongs to a neighbor or a business just down the street. With that in mind I feel we should shine the spotlight on a worthy project every so often. SHOPPING CENTER CONVERSION One such project which we talked about here a few months back was the total lighting conversion of the Pear Tree Shopping Center. This is the shopping center that starts with the Lucky food store on Perkins behind Savings Bank and goes all the way across Orchard to encompass JCPenny’s. The owners decided to convert all the older style lighting, not just inside the stores, but all the outside walkway lighting and all the parking lot lighting. All were upgraded from the old T-12 style to the new T-8 style fluorescent tubes (this includes changing the ballast from magnetic to electronic), and the parking lot pole fixtures were changed from 450 watt metal halide to 120w induction lamps. All walkway lighting was also changed to induction, resulting in similar wattage reductions. I received a letter from the property management company to say that they’ve had the new lights in long enough to get several months of billing to compare. In looking at the same months last year so far they are realizing over 50% reduction in month to month year to year comparison. And when you are talking about the number of fixtures a shopping center has and the length of time those lights must be on, you are talking about savings well into the four figure range per month. The owners of Pear Tree did this mostly out of their own pocket with help from the City of Ukiah commercial lighting rebate program, which paid over half of the cost of the project. The owners are on target to recoup their monetary investment in under two years. Another local business that went all-in with lighting was Ukiah Ford Lincoln Mercury. The owner, Huxley Richardson, not only had the showroom lighting upgraded, but also the mechanics bays, the detail shop, the paint shop, and in addition, converted all the parking lot lighting to induction also. All lighting at Ukiah Ford is now energy efficient. Other local business taking advantage of Ukiah’s generous commercial lighting rebate are Schats Bakery, Curry’s Furniture, Mendocino Farm Supply, Plaza Del Sol office complex, Farmer Bros. Autobody, and Roundtree Glass, as well as another six or eight in progress. UKIAH’S GREEN MOTEL We have one more establishment to mention and this business owner took the concept to a whole other level. This guy just likes to be “green” and won’t stop until there is nothing left to do. I’m referring to the Super 8 Hotel and its owner Raakesh Patel, located on Orchard at Gobbi St. Raakesh started greening up his motel long before it was fashionable, or supported by utility rebates. Most of what he has done was on his own dime. He has completely changed all the lighting in the facility to fluorescent, installed energy efficient heat pumps for heating and cooling, installed new dual pane windows, put programmable timers on his outside lighting and converted all the machinery like ice machines, printers, copiers and all office equipment to Energy Star compliant products. He even went so far as to use all bio-degradable serving ware in the dining room and has a linen reuse program. His most recent project was to change out the last of the inefficient outside area lighting by converting all 21 of his 175 watt metal halide “wall packs” mounted on the sides of the building, to 40 watt induction. On this last lighting conversion project he did have the City of Ukiah as a partner with their rebate program. But the very latest thing on Mr. Patel’s list is really cool. He has not only set aside several parking places for low emission vehicles, he also just installed a charging station for electric vehicles (you can see a picture of it at www.super8ukiah.com). He is the first Hotel in Mendocino County with such a device and he is now considered a “Certified Green Hotel”. And now, after getting rid of the incandescent lights in the hotel lobby and converting them to 18 watt CFL’s (compact fluorescent lamps), he wants to go a step further and replace the CFL’s with a 5 or 6 watt LED, just as soon as he finds one he likes. Our hats off to Mr. Raakesh Patel for going above and beyond in the quest for energy conservation. Stop by and check out his new charging station, in a few years these will everywhere.
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