Alviston Blog

I tell people to go outside and walk into their front door as if it were for the first time. When you come in, think, “What can I do to make this more energy efficient and sustainable?” By “this,” I mean pretty much everything you see: the floor, walls, paint, carpet, lights, refrigerator, and toilet. Everything. Furthermore, the things you cannot see, i.e. the air. Heating and cooling the air in our homes takes a whopping amount of energy.

When I first walk into a home of a client, I think not only what can be done to make it more energy efficient and healthier, however, which of these things should be done first. Every home is different because every family is unique. Sometimes, they have already done some “efficiency upgrades,” like putting in low-e, dual-pane windows, or installing high-efficiency toilets.

We did an assessment for our friend Don in Reedley last week, who wants to do solar power. He is also considering solar water heating or a tankless type water heater. All of these things are good, but obviously cost money. So how do you decide which to do first?

The house was built in the early ‘70s. Well built, but during a time when energy was not much of a concern. I poked my head up in the attic and measured the depth of the insulation. It was a nice attic, very open with evenly applied insulation. However, there was not very much by today’s standards, less than five inches, R-15 at best.

The R-value is the resistance to the flow of heat. Since 80% of heat lost from a house goes right through the ceiling, good insulation will pay for itself very quickly. Heat always wants to move from hot to cold, so more insulation is good for the summer, as well as the winter, because you want to keep the heat in the attic from coming into your cool house.

Adding all this, we told Don that insulation would be the first thing to do. If he does decide to go ahead with the photovoltaic system, it will allow us to downsize the system, saving even more money.

A seemingly less significant item was a back door that had a single-pane slider and was very thin. It may seem like a small thing, but imagine if the window was not there at all? Most homes are so leaky, it is as if they have basketball size hole in their front door. So changing this door to a more efficient one that is well sealed will have a very positive effect and not cost much.

Don also wanted us to check out pricing on a new water heater since the one he had was very old. We are looking into a tankless and a high-efficiency tank-style heater. This will not lower his electric bill, but will lower his overall energy consumption. Hence, this will probably be the next step.

Don has already installed dual-pane, low-e windows and energy-efficient washer and dryer.

Putting in solar power is a great idea, but you do not want to buy solar to offset waste. That is very expensive and unnecessary.

–Mark Alvis

A couple of months ago, Thomas Friedman was in Fresno to discuss his new book, “Hot, Flat & Crowded.” Friedman talked about the connections between the environment, technologies, and population. One of the things he said really stuck with me.

When we get to the point when we stop using the word “green” to describe things, like energy-efficient building and high-mileage cars, and instead just start living that way, we will be on our way to getting through this. Unbelievably, there are signs of this happening.

In the building industry, there are few products as common as drywall. So common, we almost take it for granted. However, making drywall takes energy, just like any other manufacturing process. It is not what we would think of as a “green” material. However, what if we were to use solar power to manufacture it?

Drywall takes a significant amount of heat to produce, heat usually supplied from natural gas. However, as the cost of gas has continued to increase, the cost of solar, in this case solar thermal, has gone the other way. According to Walls & Ceilings magazine, “Solar-powered drywall plants are both cleaner and lower cost to operate than gas-fired plants.” From a business point of view, and from an environmental point of view, solar power makes sense.

This is an example of how the word “green” will soon no longer be necessary to describe a product as such as drywall made with solar power, because it will be the norm.

The way we perceive our connection to the environment is changing. Many of us are now wide awake to the effects our activities as humans are having on the planet. At the same time, we are beginning to see ourselves as part of nature instead of separate from it. Even so, our current economic state pulls our attention away from this much larger issue.

The good news is that if we embrace “green tech” and “clean teach,” if we adopt energy-efficient building practices and design, and build high-mileage vehicles, we can not only stimulate our economy, but reduce the effects of global warming as well.

–Mark Alvis

Just got back from Maui, a place that I spent a lot of time in the ‘80s working on small construction projects and learning how connected we are to the ocean and the earth.

I remember snorkeling at Makena and seeing hundreds of brightly colored fish through the clear water. I remember working in Hana where at that point they had no electricity.

One of the things we did on this trip was an outrigger canoe paddle off the shore of Kihei. A group there paddles every day and is open to the public. It was a decent workout and great to get out in the ocean, to feel that connection again. I sat just in front of the woman steering the canoe so I could talk to her during the rest periods. She had lived on Maui for four years or so. I told her about Alviston.com and what I do. She told me about some of the problems they were having on Maui.

One of them was the way that they were treating the wastewater by injecting it into the ground. Since it is an island surrounded by ocean, eventually the water gets to the ocean. This is apparently bringing more nutrients into the water making it murky and allowing different types of coral to grow.

When I went snorkeling a few days later, I saw what she meant. Less fish, less color. Twenty years ago, I had the opportunity to live on Maui. Even then, I felt this incredibly beautiful place had a fragility that could be easily thrown out of balance. I saw the population and resorts growing and it just did not seem right for me to add to it. I did not think at that time that the entire planet was really just a big Maui, just as fragile and just as beautiful.

It was with new awareness that I went to Maui this time. Now I see it as a place with many of the same problems we all have. Nevertheless, at the same time, I see in Maui the potential for change. Flying in I saw a row of wind machines on the east Maui Mountains. Just up the street from where I was staying in Makawao, there is a bed & breakfast with a helical wind turbine. On an island that still burns coal to produce electricity, there are many buildings with photovoltaic systems on its roof.

I now see Maui as a place that has the potential to become a shining example of sustainability. With its abundance of sunshine and wind, it has all the elements to be powered entirely by renewable sources. With its growing awareness of the environment, change is already happening. However, it will take leadership and the will to do it.

Hawaiians have always had a very close tie with the ocean and the earth. The rest of the world would do good to learn from them.

–Mark Alvis