Solar and other "gee-whiz" tech stuff
Learning what you do first matters.
Gee-whiz, isn’t solar a good thing?
Gotcha! You thought I was going to say don’t install any solar on your house, right? Wrong! Yes, solar is great. In fact it’s one of the best things you can do for a new house. Solar can be a fantastic long-term financial investment and it can help reduce the need for nuclear, coal, and natural gas 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you’re building a new house I strongly recommend calling some local solar installers to request bids on your project. It may not be in the budget but you’ll never know unless you inquire. Many factors have driven down the cost of solar and arrays can be implemented almost anywhere, so it’s worth serious consideration.
But we need to do more than solar.
As cool as solar is - or any alternative energy generation for that matter - it’s not a solitary solution without some considerable drawbacks. In the case of solar, battery reliance can be a huge drawback. For grid inter-tie systems, space, structural requirements (for load) and initial costs can still be more than many projects can handle. It would be far preferable to promote construction that delivers extremely low energy needs in the first place. Trust me this can be easily accomplished. I’ve done it multiple times and in fact my wife does much of the needed work on our houses completely on her own. So, why not simply reduce new building energy needs to the lowest possible point and then supplement with alternative energies? That’s a good question.
Let me compare two progressive nearby cities that I’m familiar with to illustrate what I’m talking about.
A tale of two cities.
Vancouver, BC is probably doing more than any other city in North America to promote Passive House as a primary solution for energy demand in new construction. The city is encouraging builders and homeowners to,
insulate above code
pay attention to simple but meticulous air-sealing techniques
control ventilation using heat recovery systems
choose high performance windows and doors
conduct basic energy modeling before building
Check it out, the city even promotes it on their website! Friends, that is cool and this approach is a sure fire way to make a long-term positive change in reducing the energy impacts of buildings. (As a side note, all this fervor is even spurning local innovation and economic development. For instance, Passive House window companies are popping up in the region along with a variety of other innovative building product manufacturers and suppliers.)
ABOVE CODE ROOF. The PH approach is non-prescriptive and invites building innovation. It also makes each build unique, fresh and enjoyable. I designed and built this assembly in 2019. In the end it’s all about performance!
Seattle, WA is taking an entirely different approach. To my knowledge, as of the date of this article, the Seattle DPD hasn’t done anything to improve upon the Washington State Energy Code which is, at its best, a flaccid standard. I know this to be the case because I work with the WSEC code every month and I also do design work in Seattle using the SRC (Seattle’s IRC facsimile code) on occasion. And I work state-wide with the energy code.
So, what’s the issue? Well, instead of outlining better construction practices, like Vancouver, BC is doing, Seattle is promoting solar-first as a primary “green” solution (see Seattle SDCI Tip #420). Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely think it’s great that any place is encouraging people to consider solar; however it would be more meaningful to incorporate simple, less costly up front measures that require little to no maintenance for new permits. And this, frankly, could be done with a simple code improvement.
But is one idea better than the other?
In case it’s not clear, yes! Vancouver is rapidly developing a standard that will offer incredible benefits to homeowners, the utility grid, and the environment simply by enforcing builders to build - and encouraging homeowners to demand - better buildings using simple methods. Seattle, while meaning well, is still putting the cart before the horse. Its efforts to reduce grid energy consumption in new homes by relying on independent solar is unlikely to amount to much savings.
The theory is dead simple: less consumption = less energy need.
A quick word about the Passive House standard
This is a rigorous international standard and not for the faint of heart. It requires many spreadsheet calculations, field observations, recording, documentation, testing and verification. It also costs $$$’s to undergo a full third-party PH certification. For some skilled builders and enthusiastic homeowners with a healthy budget, certification is an excellent option. It guarantees a house will perform as stated. I think the PH standard should be mandated for large-scale residential developers and multi-family (high-rise) projects. But for the average builder and homeowner there really needs to be some “rules of thumb” to make field implementation a broader reality. The goal should be to make housing WAY more efficient and PH Certification is not required to achieve that. Most PH techniques are not complicated or expensive. I won’t mislead you though. Yes, building a better performing house is more expensive and requires more thoughtfulness to design and build. But it’s not rocket science and it’s not expensive. It’s entirely possible to achieve near-Passive House results just by caring a little more about and investing a bit extra in a project. I’ve done it. It’s not broken the bank. I’ve seen clients do it. They’ve all succeeded. So I encourage anyone reading to go for it too.
I lived in Seattle for years, met my wife there, and went to college at the University of Washington. I’ve designed several homes and Airbnbs built in Seattle and have worked with the Seattle DPD. Since 2003 I’ve lived mostly in Point Roberts, WA, a peninsular town just outside of Vancouver, BC, where I live and work among Washingtonians and Canadians on an ongoing basis. In 2018 I was Passive House trained via Passive House Canada.
