Specifics for a Resilient House

Structural Considerations:

Meet or exceed current seismic codes for tie downs, lateral (sheer) bracing, masonry chimney supports, etc.

A building’s ability to flex and absorb vibration is as important as how strong it is when it comes to earthquake resistant design. Install expansion joints to allow a building to move without damage during seismic activity.

Fire Resistance:

Use non-combustible materials for the building shell: 3 coat plaster, cementitious siding, clad or metal frame windows, clay or concrete roofing tiles or standing seam metal roofing. Avoid exposed wood outside. If have exposed wood, coat with water-based intumescent paint.   Avoid attic venting [use foam insulation (Icynene) to meet code]. Consider metal gutters integrated with metal facia. Use gutter guards to keep gutters cleaned out. Since eaves are one of the most vulnerable areas, cover with non-combustible material like plaster or cementitious boards.

Make deck surfaces non-combustible with tile or masonry combined with plaster skirting and plaster or metal guardrails.

Make structure super tight to prevent/minimize smoke intrusion.

Top chimneys with ¼” mesh spark arrestors.

Install state-of-the-art flame and ember resistant foundation vents. Use similar vents for soffit, ridge and gable openings, if they exist, but try to avoid. Brands to consider are Vulcan, O’Hagin, FAMCO, Ember Out and Brandguard.

Establish defensible space around your home, by planting fire resistant landscaping, keeping trees limbed up and cleaning debris around the house. Absolutely no wood or other combustible material should be stored near the outside of your house.

Protect from Extreme Weather:

Reinforce structure to withstand severe wind loads (basically same steps as for seismic strategies)

Prepare for heavy precipitation and flooding. Use deep overhangs (suggest 24”) to keep much of the rain away from the house. Use gutters, downspouts, French drains, soil slopped away from structure and site swales, infiltration basins and catch basins to let water penetrate ground and protect the building from heavy storms. (Can use gutter system to capture and store rainwater for future irrigation).

Provide permeable surfaces at patios, walkways and driveways to absorb storm water.

Build drainage planes behind wall skins to allow trapped moisture/water to escape and drain out at base of walls.

Pay special attention to basements and crawlspaces where water may collect. Locate mechanical equipment and electric panels above grade. Attic spaces are ideal for such equipment (furnaces, boilers, AC equipment, and water heaters).

If located in a flood plain or the coastal zone, think about rising seas, storm surges and even possible tsunamis. Elevate the main living quarters and install breakaway walls at the lower level. This is standard practice in Hawaii.

For Survivability:

Employ passive solar design strategies. Create a tight shell with substantial insulation, thermal breaks, thermal mass, strategically placed windows, natural ventilation, stack ventilation, and moveable shading devices on the sunny sides of the house. Maximize daylighting. These steps can save operating costs and assure a reasonable level of comfort when heating/cooling equipment is out of commission.

Go All-Electric with Backup Storage:

Use Energy Star or better appliances or equipment. Use heat-pumps for heating, cooling, hot water and clothes drying. Install a magnetic induction stove for cooking. (Emergency back up for cooking could be a Coleman camp stove using propane cannisters). Generate your electric power with photo-voltaic panels and a backup storage system (maybe Sonnen-a German battery). Arrange your electric circuitry for survivability. Run your refrigerator, cooker, some minimal LED lights, your media/information center and at least one receptacle for charging phones off the battery backup system. A Yeti Tundra 65 cooler makes an effective emergency backup for frozen foods when power goes out.

Consider an electric vehicle or bicycle (electric or pedal) in case of an extended power outage where gasoline will not be available. Avoid a diesel generator for backup. Fuel may not be available plus it contributes to the climate crisis.

Develop an Emergency Water Supply:

Stored water, perhaps collected rainwater, can be purified/filtered with an MSR Guarding Purifier System.

What Makes a Home "Green"?

Multi-year drought, distressed forests and intense wildfires bring awareness of the local impacts of climate change. Efforts to address climate change have long focused on cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and more recently on sequestering carbon. But because the impacts of climate change are now upon us, we need to add to our efforts resilience planning. What is the focus of these efforts related to our buildings?

In reviewing many “green building” programs, the most common characteristics are: energy efficiency, water conservation and selecting materials that are sustainable and used in a resource-efficient way.

Because energy use is strongly linked to GHG emissions, reducing energy consumption in homes tends to decrease damage caused by burning fossil fuels. There are many ways to reduce energy use in homes: install more efficient appliances, select higher performance windows, or add thicker insulation.

Water conservation makes sense in most regions of the country, excluding only those where fresh water is abundant. In California, water is directly linked to energy, for close to 20 percent of our energy use statewide is consumed in transporting and treating water. Residential water conservation emphasizes careful selection of plumbing fixtures and appliances but also promotes rainwater collection.

Choosing materials for a green home involves selecting materials that are naturally renewable (for example, wood from sustainably harvested forests), have recycled content, or are harvested/manufactured regionally. These materials also need to be incorporated in structures as efficiently as possible.

Other green building criteria worth considering are:

·         Designing and building homes that last longer. Although rarely thought about, designing to make future changes easier helps save materials. Selecting materials that require less cleaning and less maintenance are also aspects of durability.

·         A green home is small. Scaling down is unpopular with Americans, but greatly reduces impact.

·         A green home provides superior indoor air quality and promotes human health. Avoiding materials and furnishings that involve toxins and outgassing is key. Good natural and mechanical ventilating is also important.

·         Because transportation involves our biggest consumption of fossil fuel, selecting a location that is close to work, shopping, schools and public transportation could be the most impactful of all criteria, but is rarely addressed.

Resilience focuses on livable conditions in buildings after a disaster; on backup power; and on access to potable water. These strategies are being woven into “green building” programs but expanded to community scale. Photovoltaics with on-site storage can provide basic services and information during power outages. We know how to build tight buildings out of non-combustible materials to resist wildfires. Mechanical ventilation with HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters can handle smoke and ash from wildfires. Rainwater collection, composting toilets and recycled water are other resilient strategies.

Retrofitting Homes to Become All-Electric

Weaning homes off natural gas and other fossil fuels would significantly reduce carbon emissions. Scientists report that fossil fuels consumed in our buildings across the globe account for 28 percent of climate change, while natural gas leaks upstream from our appliances account for another 25 percent of global climate change. Fuel burning appliances are entrenched in our homes, making the shift to electric appliances a challenge, even to homeowners so inclined.

The City of Santa Barbara is finalizing an all-electric code for new construction, joining more than 40 other cities and counties in California. Most likely, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties will consider similar code changes soon, but what can be done about existing structures, nearly all of which are not all-electric?

Redwood Energy, a California energy consulting firm, has published, within the last few weeks, a peer-reviewed report laying out detailed information on how the conversion of an existing home can be simple, relatively inexpensive and without building modification, not even upgrading the electrical service. This report, A Pocket Guide to All-Electric Retrofits of Single-Family Homes, lays out two paths toward electrification.

One path is an appliance-by-appliance conversion. This incremental approach, where an electric equivalent model replaces a gas-burning appliance may have no cost difference, especially if the old appliance needs replacing anyway. If a new 240-volt circuit is needed, there would be an added cost of between $85 and $600.

The second path is where all appliances are replaced at one time. This can cost between $3000 and $20,000 or more, depending on whether building upgrades are included like adding insulation or new high-performance windows.

Most existing homes have a 100-amp service panel; a few older ones may have only a 60-amp panel. The report lays out how a 3000 square foot home can be completely electrified without upgrading a 100-amp service. Choosing efficient appliances such as heat-pumps that are three to five times more efficient makes this possible. Switching to water heating or space heating/cooling heat-pumps usually means running new 240-volt lines but appearing on the market for the first time this past year are 120-volt models than can plug into any wall outlet.

Another strategy is using circuit-sharing plugs where one 240-volt outlet can handle, for example, an electric dryer and a heat-pump water heater, or a magnetic induction stove and an electric vehicle charger. These circuit-sharing plugs range between $200-$500 but save money by requiring fewer new circuits and often no panel upgrade.

Redwood Energy’s report is full of useful information on design, assessing existing electric panels, rebates and tax credits, plus utility and community choice energy incentives (coming to Santa Barbara this October). It contains an extensive catalog of devices that covers everything from heating and cooling to cooking, water heating, whole-house ventilation, countertop ovens, kitchen hoods, power-sharing plugs, and even slow cookers.

Gas Versus Magnetic Induction Cooking

To meet its goal of 100 percent renewable electric power by 2030, the City of Santa Barbara is crafting an all-electric reach code together with a ban on natural gas hookups in new construction. In these deliberations, the appliance that has become the focus of controversy is the magnetic induction cooker. Because it directly heats a pan using electricmagnetic fields, an induction unit can provide great power, instant adjustability, excellent thermal efficiency, and precise control. The energy efficiency of induction coils is more than double that of gas burners--80-90 percent goes to the cooking of food compared to 38 percent for gas units.

Since an induction cooktop, commonly a glass ceramic sheet, does not get hot except directly under the pot and even then, only moderately hot, it is safer than a gas range and much easier to clean. The lack of a hot surface means no hard-to-clean baked-on spills.

The Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) and its front group, Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions (CBES), funded from rate payers’ monies (illegally?), promote kitchens with gas appliances. They claim Californians want to cook with natural gas. Magnetic-induction cooking, widespread in Europe and Asia, is still a relatively new technology in the US. However, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association, induction cooking, accounted for 15 percent of stove sales last year. It is even becoming the preferred choice for many top chefs.

What SCG and CBES do not reveal to the public are the health issues linked to gas ranges. Physicians for Social Responsibility and 3 other national research groups reviewed two decades of peer-reviewed studies on indoor air quality linked to gas appliances. Their findings show that gas stoves are exposing tens of millions of people to levels of air pollution in their homes that would be illegal outdoors under national air quality standards.

This explains why gas companies have fought so hard, so long, to fend off regulation of gas stoves, while claiming natural gas to be a clean fuel. Children risk respiratory issues and reduced brain performance when exposed to gas combustion residues, especially when combustion is incomplete. The EPA reports that children are 42 percent more likely to have asthma challenges when living in a home with a gas cooker.

There is the question about electromagnetic radiation exposure from induction cookers. Studies in Europe and the US, including one from the World Health Organization, show no health risk, even for pregnant women and young children. As close as one centimeter (approximately 3/8”) from a magnetic coil reveals no measurable effects on health.

Another consideration is the roughly 25 percent cost premium for induction ranges over gas ones, but this differential is decreasing as induction stoves gain market share. Perhaps the most important consideration is that natural gas has no role in a clean energy future, nor as a part of solving climate change.