michelle kaufmann designs

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Last week at the TED conference, there were many exciting talks and presentations. But none more game changing that this one. This is exactly what the green movement needs: Bill Gates.
Watch his 20 minute talk here on “Innovating to Zero”. Having Bill switch his focus to zero carbon is a huge endorsement, and he is someone who can really help make a difference.
Watch the talk HERE.

As part of an enhancement to it’s Net Energy Metering program, PG&E announced this week that a customer who produces more power than they use, referred to as a “net generator”, will be eligible for reimbursement. The program, part of Bill 920-Huffman- Solar and Wind Generation, approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger in late 2009, calls for a new option that would allow net generators to receive the once-per-year compensation.  This is good news for those of us producing energy (and can certainly help budgeting for our Glidehouse home this year).

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is still hammering out the details of the new strategy. Although a search of PG&E’s website revealed little about the initiative, it looks like the switch has been flipped and the light is finally on. Not that we minded doing our part to help cut green house gases (GHG) by pumping unused power from our PV system back into the grid. But considering that last year the amount of energy measured in dollars was equivalent to, say a one night’s stay at Post Ranch Inn, we will gladly take the cash. (Post Ranch Inn now boasts a 200KW  PV generating facility on site)

Congratulations to all you “Net Generators” out there for helping to keep California’s light on! Get ready to reap the reward$ in 2010.

By Kevin Cullen

The tankless water heater came into being around WWII, used mostly in Europe and Asia. It’s use on this side of the pond has become more prevalent in recent years due in part to it’s many benefits, but also to our realization that bigger is not always better. Tankless, or on-demand water heaters, have had a bad rap, often seen as the 98 lb weakling, next to it’s bulked up cousin, the conventional water heater.

The technology behind the tankless heater is simple and energy efficient. As the name suggests, there is no tank storing unneeded hot water for long periods of time. This negates stand-by heat loss, a side effect of the conventional heater, as it keeps cycling on and off to keep the water in the tank up to temperature. In a tankless heater, water is heated only when needed, hence the moniker, “on-demand”, and offers an endless supply of steaming water. The units can range in size from a large novel to a standard medicine cabinet, depending on their function. The majority of tankless heaters are fueled by propane or natural gas. Electric models are available if gas is not an option.

The smallest point-of-use heater is most often used when small amounts of water are needed at one sink or shower. These are especially handy if the sink or shower is a long way from the main water heater and much water and energy would be wasted running the water to get hot water to the desired location. This size unit starts at around $100 and will give fairly instant non-stop hot water.

Larger units that can handle say, two showers and the dishwasher at the same time, cost in the $600-$1200 range. These units are usually wall mounted affairs, which can be a boon if saving floor space is a concern. All prices quoted do not include installation.

Pay back time on a tankless water heater will vary, depending on your geographical location, your hot water usage, how much retrofitting is needed to supply gas and vent the unit and the cost of the heater. Estimates range from 3-8 years considering the variables. Gas demand is sometimes higher for a tankless than a conventional tanked model which could require increasing the gas pipe size to the unit.
Also, most gas fired tankless heaters require stainless steel vent pipe due in part to the condensation formed during combustion. This is an integral part of any installation and should be carried out to the manufacturer’s specs.

The real skinny surrounding a tankless unit is the gallons per minute or GPM, of hot water it can supply. The average shower or bath runs at about 2-2.5 GPM, so if you want to operate two showers and the dishwasher (1.3 GPM) at the same time, make sure the unit can provide the proper flow rate, which would be in the 5-6 GPM range. Size of the unit will also depend on your local climate. The colder the incoming water, the more energy is needed to bring the water up to temperature, the lower the GPM delivery rate.
Check out this sizing calculator for tankless heaters at CONSUMER REPORTS.

There a few aspects to tankless operation that warrant mentioning. The first is the time between when the tap is opened and when hot water reaches it. It takes 2-3 seconds for the unit to acknowledge the demand, fire up and start delivery of hot water.  Therefore,  if it now takes 30 seconds to get hot water to a sink located far from a conventional water heater, the installation of a tankless model will not speed up delivery of hot water - it will still take 30 seconds, plus the few seconds it takes the unit to fire up.
Next, when you have used the hot water in your sink and then gone away for a while, then come back to use it again, you will notice that after a few seconds of hot water, there will be a blast of cold water as the unit responds to the new demand, fires up and starts delivering hot water again.
Lastly, most units have a minimum flow rate of 0.5 GPM. If you use a tap that draws less than that, say by rinsing dishes with just a trickle of hot water, it might not be enough demand to fire up the unit and you won’t get hot water to the faucet.

There is a slight learning curve to operating a tankless heater, but when compared to the benefits of energy and money conservation, I would not let them deter me from installing one. After five years of tankless use in our home, we are staunch converts.

There are ways to mitigate water loss from running the tap to get hot water to a sink or appliance placed a great distance from any type water heater and that will be discussed in a later entry.

Another current enticement to make the switch to tankless is the federal tax credit in place until December, 2010. This currently stands at 30% of cost, up to $1500, of an energy efficient water heater. Other tax credits are available as well and can be viewed at ENERGY STAR WEBSITE.

We cut our propane bill by around 35-40% by installing our tankless unit. In our Glidehouse.  Claims by manufactures of up to 50% savings are not uncommon, but somewhat inflated, I suspect. (Think fuel usage estimates on window stickers at the car dealership) The savings will also be determined by your personal use.

Not only do we enjoy the savings in our fuel bill, along with knowing we have an endless supply of hot water, we also cut our greenhouse gas emissions by burning less fossil fuels. A nice bonus to ponder while standing an endless stream of hot water!

The tub shown here by KASCH.

I was recently able to visit the LumenHAUS (designed by talented students at Virginia Tech for the Solar Decathlon last fall) while it was in a resting stop in between travels. Apparently it is headed to Times Square next week, and other locations around the country after that.

I was very impressed. The design was lovely, innovative and it was executed beautifully. I was hard pressed to find any flaws. And that is rare for a design curmudgeon like me. I fell in love right away from - first from the outside with the layers of slide-away glass walls and metal panels with rotated disks that are set at different angles allowing light to come in, but views out only where you need it, but privacy where you want it. The effect was elegantly simple, yet extremely functional. By sliding away the sunshades and windows, inhabitants can do much to moderate the temperature without having to turn on the mechanical system.

Then, when I walked inside I was ready to move in.

The house is set up to produce more energy than it needs (which, like our Glidehouse,  means we are giving back to the environment even on lazy days).

Here is a lot more info on all the beautiful intelligence in the home design: www.solar.arch.vt.edu

This lovely chandelier appears grand and luxurious. But what is most interesting is when you look closer and see that it is actually made from bare old re-used incandescent bulbs. These out-dated inefficient bulbs are now being replaced with CFLs or LEDs by people wanting lower energy bills. But rather than having them go to the landfill, London designer Tim Fishlock came up with a beautiful approach to give them new life, while still providing an efficient CFL light source for the piece. His “What Watt?” chandelier uses these old bulbs to diffuse the light from the CFL and crate interesting shapes, shadows and textures.

It reminds me of a similar idea we used in the Smart Home: Green + Wired mkSolare at the Museum of Science and Industry. Ted Harris designed these lights below for the exhibit that were CFL lights to efficiently produce the light, but the old incadescent bulbs were used to filter the light, adding some color and pattern.

source: Contemporist

Today we had the great pleasure of visiting the Plastiki, an incredible boat and inspiring story. The Plastiki is a 60′ catamaran constructed out of reclaimed plastic bottles and will be sailing from San Francisco to Austrailia with a handpicked crew of adventurers, scientists and creatives. Visionary David de Rothschild leads this extraordinary team with the mission to beat waste by sustainable solutions and to highlight ecological damage being done to the world’s oceans.

The boat will be completely self-sustaining with solar panels, rain water collection, a desalinator, energy bikes, and hydroponic gardens for growing food.

It was exciting to see the boat now in the water. It made it’s maiden voyage yesterday and will be finished during the next month for its big launch.

Today is a brisk reminder that winter is coming here in the Bay Area. Walking the dogs this morning required a coat and a hat. Alas.

So it seems time to turn on the fans. I realize this can sound fairly counter-intuitive. We typically think of ceiling fans as something used when it is hot out. However, they can be quite useful in the cold months as well. First, you need to make sure your fan blades are on the winter settings (i.e. so they move air downward. Typically you want them set so they pull air up during the summer, helping the hot air to go up and out of the house).  With the blades set so they push the air down, the fans help to keep the heat from rising and push it back down to the the portion of the space that we inhabit.  In our Glidehouse we have radiant floors so the heat is coming from below the floors. However, since most home heat sources are typically from the floor or on a lower portion of the wall, this concept applies to most homes and heating systems. The setting should be on low, so it doesn’t create a draft on your body which could result in feeling cool.

By turning on the fans, it requires some energy, but less overall energy due to the result in less need for the heating system.

In efforts to save energy, we are hearing a lot about using good ol’ clotheslines instead of using the drying machine.  A Consumer Reports blog states that an electric dryer can cost a family on average $80 per year. Others cite even higher costs. The Energy Information Agency says that dryers account for 5.8 % of home electric usage. And the NY Times Green Inc blog has been sharing readers photos of “Airing their (Clean) Laundry” which got me thinking about this issue of the aesthetics of airing one’s laundry.

Some locations and neighborhoods ban the visible hanging of laundry for the unpleasing aesthetics. Both my mother and my grandmother appreciate the energy savings of hanging out their laundry in the summertime, but there is always the concern of the scorn of neighbors who might not embrace this idea as much as their ancestors. This is a great opportunity for architects and designers. How can we plan for aesthetically pleasing ways to hang one’s laundry? Can we design for spaces that capture sun but are not visible to others? Or can we actually think artistically and use the laundry like an artist uses paint on a canvas? Can we plan for patterns and designs? Can we use clothes as sun screening in front of windows to reduce heat gain doing double duty of reducing energy? It will be interesting to see what we can all come up with when we design and plan for clothes hanging and see this as design opportunities rather than eyesores.

In our Glidehouse, the barn door track for our sliding wood sunshades doubles as a great laundry hanger. A built-in “clothesline” to our courtyard that is also hidden from public viewing and anyone’s possible scorn.