Over here at the Robinson/Price-Robinson abode, there has been a standoff concerning the new water heater we need so badly. Ours is likely 20 years old and not very efficient. Our gas bill would go down immensely if we replaced that beast.
But the choices are many. Do we get a new and efficient gas-powered tank model? Or a tankless gas-fired model?
Or, if we are planning to install solar power when the prices of photovoltaic systems are expected to drop by 2010, shouldn't we install either an electric-powered tank model or an electric-powered tankless model? (See a comparison of lifecycle costs.)
Trouble is, with the latter two choices, we need about $1,000 worth of electrical work done to give them the 220 volts of power they require.
I'm the one who wants the electric, tankless, on-demand system. And Bill wants the gas-powered tank system. Thus, a standoff.
But I think we might be getting closer to doing it Bill's way, and that's always so much easier all the way around. Spouses, can you relate?
Part of my thinking about the tankless system is that most of the cool green builders I respect are big, big proponents of the tankless systems. And that means a lot to me.
But I was recently contacted by Wes Harding, a green-leaning builder in Long Beach (Lic. No. 895042) who believes that new, super-efficient tank systems are actually the better way to go.
Wes provided a link to an article about a scientific analysis of all systems, but, he noted: "The only problem I see with the article is efficiency is measured in gas or electricity consumed, not the amount of water used."
Here's a chart from the analysis:
In terms of both water and energy savings, Wes is sold on tank water heaters for these reasons:
1. God forbid, but if we are ever in a major earthquake or disaster, where do we get our water supply from if we have converted to tankless? With a tank system, the water in the tank can be used in an emergency. 2. Water is wasted in a tankless system because it has to be heated through a coil before it reaches the point of use. 3. Tankless systems operate on the volume of water. If you set your faucet to a trickle, the heater won't kick in. This allows for "slugs" or cold spurts between the hot-water delivery as well as more water consumed. 4. A limited number of fixtures can be used at one time. 5. More electrical energy is consumed as the amount of water increases because of the energy it takes to provide water pressure.
See a fast-motion video showing 2.25 kilowatts of Lumeta solar panels installed in 34 minutes.
These will be featured at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference June 24 to 27 in San Francisco. These thin panels are only available for commercial use, not residential, but it shows you the direction we're heading. The company does offer terra cotta-colored S-tiles and panels of flat tiles for residential installation that blend with the existing design of the roof.
I was so excited about this new shower curtain, which was a gift for my husband.
It was at about 35,000 feet, breathing airliner air, when I saw in a magazine this really neat shower curtain. The clear vinyl on the top would allow our dark and narrow shower stall some needed daylight. And the curtain is treated with "the world's strongest industrial antimicrobial and germicidal inhibitor."
And maybe that's why, when it arrived in my mailbox, it had such a chemically odor that I had to leave it outside overnight.
Then I read today that a report released by the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment & Justice found that vinyl shower curtains "sold at Bed Bath & Beyond, Kmart, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart, among other major retailers, contained high concentrations of chemicals that are linked to liver damage as well as damage to the central nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems." Yikes! And I'm so fond of my central nervous system. Heck, I like all my systems. (Read about the study in the L.A. Times.)
So what do I now? I want to be an eco-consumer and I want to retain my good health. And I'm not even sure if this item is an offender. And our bathroom window is open all the time for natural ventilation. But If I suspected this item was not healthy, how would tossing it, and all its embodied carbon load, into the trash square with my green goals?
In other words, if you discovered you'd made a bad, unhealthy purchase, which do you think would be the greener action: keep it and make use of it, or get it out of your house, dump it in the landfill for future generations to deal with and try again?
Perhaps I shouldn't have bought it. That might be the answer. But what do I do now? What would you do?
A two-bedroom cabin at Tamarack Lodge, overlooking Twin Lakes in the Mammoth Mountain area, has earned silver certification from the LEED green building program.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council. The silver rating means it adheres to a more strict green-building protocol than a building rated "certified," but less than a gold- or platinum-rated building.
According to a press release, this is the first LEED building in the ski area.
The green elements of the cabin include:
• Materials extracted, processed and manufactured within 500 miles of the site • Environmentally friendly hardwood flooring • Recycled carpeting and decking material • Local masonry rock • Pest-resistant siding • Recycled and local drywall • Energy-efficient windows • Local concrete aggregates • Recycled fiberglass insulation. • Added insulation (exceeds California energy requirements by more than 37%) • Dual-flush toilets that average 33% less water use than standard toilets • Enhanced air ventilation and air-to-air heat exchanger • Timers on bathroom exhaust fans • Documented waste-management practices during construction • Nearby access to a free shuttle
The LEED cabin, one of 34 cabins at Tamarack Lodge, was a collaboration between Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, Woodward Architecture and Boyer Construction (both in Mammoth), and BECx Engineering in Truckee. The cabin will be available as a vacation rental beginning in July.
The worst part about ordering a home-improvement item or sample online is that you know you're going to be receiving catalogs in the mail that you may not want, even if you unclicked the send-me-unlimited-marketing-materials-from-you-and-all-your-partners-from-now-until-eternity button.
And how do you stop the catalog influx once it starts? Do you call the customer no-service number and beep through a series of options until you're pretty sure the human you're finally speaking with has no power to do what you want done?
Or do you gather together an envelope and stamp and mail your request, being even more sure it will do no good whatsoever?
Yes, I have tried all these tactics, but with little success.
Yet I have high hopes for Catalog Choice, a website where you can indicate which catalogs you'd rather not receive. Then, the website people contact the companies on your behalf and tell them: Stop already!
Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund and the Kendeda Fund.
Here are the catalogs I've requested a stop to during the last month:
Bed, Bath, & Beyond Best Buy Big Dogs Costco Flor Pottery Barn Sky Mall Trader Joe's Westways
I actually really like all these companies. But I do my online shopping online and see all the ads I need in the daily newspaper.
So far, Bed, Bath & Beyond is the only company that has confirmed my request. Yay! I can log into my account on www.catalogchoice.org and keep track of my choices.
All my other requests are marked unconfirmed or pending. I don't have much hope for stopping Westways as I already made several requests on my own to stop this magazine from coming and I was informed that if I had a AAA card, I was required to get this publication. Does that sound right to you?
The Catalog Choice website states that nearly 1 million people have used the service, and have opted out of more than 11.8-million catalogs.
Each year, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC) holds a competition for the coolest building products. This year, 125 products were entered into the contest and were voted on by 679 home-building professionals.
Here are the 2008 cool-product winners in the green building category:
1. Rinnai LS Series tankless water heater
Rinnai’s LS Series tankless water heaters, the company says, save 30% to 50% in energy over traditional tank-style units, and offer installation flexibility and low emissions. Read more
2. Eagle Solar Roof (pictured above)
This is a solar-power system that integrates with Eagle's concrete roof tile. Read more
3. Cree LED Lighting Solutions LR6 light bulb
This bulb has a 20-year life span, the manufacturer says, or 50,000 hours under normal use. The LR6 is comfortable to the touch and so could reduce the burden and cost of the air conditioning system. The LR6 uses 85% less energy than a conventional incandescent and less than half that of a comparable fluorescent, the company says. And unlike any fluorescent, the LR6 contains no mercury. Read more
4. Akeena Solar’s Andalay solar panels
These solar panels have a modern, sleek design and feature a built-in rack, allowing panels to lie flat on rooftops and blend into the home’s architectural elements. Each panel is fit with electrical wiring, eliminating the errors that occur with complicated electrical grounding during the installation process, the company says, and the panels have a Lego-like snap-in-place process. Read more
5. GE Profile SmartDispense front-load washer and dryer
Using as little as 10 gallons of water for a small load, the company says, the Energy Star-qualified washer can save more than 5,800 gallons of water per year compared with a typical top-load washer. The new H2ITION technology automatically senses the load and adds just the right amount of water to each load. The washer's SmartDispense pedestals store and automatically dispense detergent and fabric softener based on each load's size, soil level, water hardness and fabric or cycle type. Read more
If you want to stretch your design vocabulary, you might consider attending the Dwell on Design conference this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Put on by the San Francisco-based Dwell magazine folks, the seminar descriptions include sentences like this:
"Not all designers set out to achieve the Platonic ideal in a concept for a chair, but few would argue that the promise of synonymy with a beloved design object does not motivate their process."
Go ahead. Look up "Platonic ideal" and "synonymy." I did, and I learned a lot.
You can also see a panel on prefabs that includes prefab guru Michelle Kauffmann. See her speak about her own delicious home:
Interview with Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti Los Angeles LEEDs the way? Nature meets the metropolis L.A. grows up: dealing with density The face of gardens in a densifying city Design developers The inventive spirit Single-family dwellings: green within reason (R)evolution in light, form and materials
Immortality through product Evolving modes of practice Home and away: lessons from the leisure zone Systems building and prefab Sustainable interiors
Plus, the exhibition floor, with 200 exhibitors and a "neighborhood" of prefab homes, is open Thursday through Sunday, and you can get in on the weekend for $50 at the door (though the full conference costs $349, or $149 for students). There are also home tours Saturday and Sunday, but Saturday's tour of Westside single-family homes is sold out. Sunday's tour, of private downtown homes (cost: $85), still has space.
Question: I need a new water heater, and because my home's gas bill is so high, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to get an electric water heater. My husband is not in favor of an on-demand water heater, so I've got to decide between gas or electric with a storage tank. Would putting in an electric water heater be a good move? And what is involved?
Answer: From Pardon Our Dust's "resident builder" Alon Toker:
Going the electric route would be more costly, both in initial costs (you would need to run a dedicated 220V line for it) and in the long run (gas, as expensive as it is, is still a cheaper energy source compared with electricity).
A 220V line, which is needed to power such an electricity-gobbling appliance, could add $500 to $2,500 to the cost of a water heater, depending on several variables: the type of wiring mandated (Romex or conduit) and whether an upgrade to the electrical panel might be needed.
A better idea is to install a high-efficiency gas water heater. But the best choice of all is a tankless gas water heater.
Though more expensive initially, the tankless model would save energy as compared with the tank unit. At my company, we have installed virtually nothing but tankless water heaters for some years with great feedback from clients. These units are more complicated and finicky than tank models, and a water softener should really be considered. But in my opinion, tankless heaters are the way to go.
Alon Toker is president of Mega Builders in Chatsworth. If you have a building-related question, e-mail it to podblog@aol.com and include "Resident Builder" in the subject line.
Pamela Burton & Co. won an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for the gardens and hardscape (seen above) at a Malibu beachfront home.
At first, the owner wanted lots of bright green turf. But the designers explained how that would be out of place with the sand and chaparral of the local natural geography and would need gobs of water. Eventually, the design team —Pamela Burton, Stephanie Psomas, Andrea Zurik and Stephen Billings — persuaded the owner to plant a sustainable landscape with sandy trails and low-water-use plants.
In the afternoon, when the sun has finally started to heat up the indoor air, the Jahnkes open the French doors in the kitchen and the afternoon breezes sweep the hot air through the house, up this stairwell . . .
. . . and out through the clerestory windows at the very top of the home. The design for this house (which was rebuilt after a fire) started at the top to make it compatible with solar panels and natural air flow. And then the rest of the design flowed downward from there. See operable skylights in a contemporary Hermosa Beach home that perform the same function.
Kathy Price-Robinson has written about remodeling for 17 years, focusing both on the process of home improvement, as well as the product. She writes for both consumer and contractor magazines, and her award-winning series, Pardon Our Dust, has appeared in the print edition of the Real Estate section of The Times since 1997. This blog is a spin-off of that column. Kathy lives in a house with good bones and a lot of potential, and shares her life with one husband, one dog, two horses and three quite exceptional stepdaughters.
Over here at the Robinson/Price-Robinson abode, there has been a standoff concerning the new water heater we need so badly. Ours is likely 20 years old and not very efficient. Our gas bill would go down immensely if we replaced that beast.
