Home, Green Home

Homes account for our biggest ecological impact, so taking steps to make them more ecologically sustainable makes a big difference locally and globally. To help residents with this, Ashland's Conservation Division and Home Power Magazine recently co-sponsored the City's annual Green and Solar Home tour. Year round, the City's Conservation Division offers information and rebates for green building and conservation measures, and helps residents obtain state and federal tax credits.

Electric Director Dick Wanderscheid said, "I thought the tour was a fabulous success. I really enjoyed each homeowner's approach to harnessing the sun and trying to lessen their environmental footprint. It is nice to see that these concepts are becoming much more mainstream." Joe Schwartz of Home Power said they supported the tour because "The best way to educate and motivate potential renewable energy users is for them to see systems in action, talk with existing system owners and learn directly from their experience."

Tour attendees Susan and David Chapman built their home with green design in mind in 2004 and were surprised at quickly the field has advanced. Susan said "A lot more materials and information are available since we started. Technology has gotten better. We could make a new house more energy efficient today. "

Green Open House

One hundred people toured five homes with energy saving designs and appliances, water conservation and rainwater storage, solar and wind power and more. City Conservation Analyst Larry Giardina organized the tour and has worked with coworkers Robbin Pearce and Cathy Cartmill to help owners realize their green goals. Fred Gant's home meets Earth Advantage standards, combining resource efficiency, indoor air quality, environmental responsibility and energy conservation. The home includes solar water heating. Melanie Smith is building 8 condos that also have solar water heaters. The system's pumps run on photovoltaic panels, making it fully solar powered. Mike Miering's home was built in the 1990's under the City's Super Good Cents conservation program. He has since installed a newer efficient heat pump, photovoltaic and solar water heating.

John and Dot Fisher-Smith's house, designed by John himself, uses passive solar architecture design aligned to nature's forces, air conditioning is unnecessary and heating needs are minimal. The majority of windows are on the south to let in the sun, with overhangs angled to keep out hot summer rays but welcome winter's light. A concrete floor stores the sun's heat in winter and keeps cool in the summer. Windows on the top on the home are opened on summer nights to flush hot air out.

The home has a radiant heating, with tubes that carry hot water through the heat-retaining concrete floor. John explained its role in efficiency saying, "If the radiant floor is 70 degrees my body will be quite comfortable though the 'air temperature' is 65 degrees. Using 'forced air' heating, a person might need to set the thermostat at 75 to feel comfortable next to a cold window." A few months ago, the Fischer-Smiths added a 2.38 kW photovoltaic system that they estimate will cut electric bills in half. They also designed ecologically-conscious landscaping with low-water plants, grape arbors for shade and sweets, and a bountiful food garden.

Explaining why they chose to build green, John said "Dot and I believe in sustainability, and comfort. Dot loves daylight. Why buy energy when you can get warmth from the sun? We chose the south facing building site for that purpose. Oregon plans a million rooftops with photovoltaics to reduce dependence on fossil fuels by 25 percent — we wanted to be one of those."

Risa Buck and Pam Lott have crafted a home and studio with an ever expanding rainbow of green features including passive solar design, solar water heating, photovoltaic, masonry stove heating, a small wind generator. The home is sheltered by the earth on the North side and the studio has strawbale walls — both increasing energy efficiency significantly. They also have a rental property and just added photovoltaic to cover the rental and the studio. The property includes a pond and cistern for rainwater storage, and a permaculture garden with fruit trees, vegetables, herbs and heat-retaining concrete planters for an extended gardening season.

Bringing it Home

The City of Ashland offers assistance and incentives for homeowners and businesses who want to paint their buildings a deeper shade of green. These include energy and water audits with conservation recommendations, and cash rebates for solar systems, efficient appliances and toilets, rental weatherization, rebates for building Earth Advantage homes. State and Federal governments offer additional tax credits for solar installations and other projects. Sanitary also does its part by offering discounts on biomass boxes for construction projects, helping to divert large amounts of materials from landfills.

Many homeowners remarked on how these programs helped them. "I liked their genuine appreciation for how they used the various city programs to help them build their homes or solar systems," Wanderscheid said. To learn more about the City's programs for green homes and businesses, contact the Conservation Division at 488-5306 or email Larry Giardina at giardin@ashland.or.us. The Ashland Chamber of Commerce also produces "Earth Smart, Money Wise," an excellent free booklet outlining conservation tips and City programs.