Alviston Blog

Even though there has been a lot of talk about energy efficiency and building sustainably, there certainly has not been a paradigm shift as of yet. According to Dr. Steven Chu, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, “We need to start shifting away from fossil fuels now.” One of the reasons, he says, is if the frozen tundra in Siberia begins to thaw, all the microbes in it will become active, living off the vegetative matter. This will produce vast amounts of CO2 and methane, more than what we humans have produced by far.

This is an example of a feedback loop. By burning fossil fuels, we add CO2 to the atmosphere. Since CO2 and methane (like water vapor, aka clouds) have the ability to reflect heat, they act like a big blanket for the earth. We need a certain amount of CO2 to keep the planet warm, but now we have too much. That is what Dr. Chu is afraid of, that heating up the atmosphere will result in things that are now frozen, like the tundra, to thaw and create a big feedback loop.

In fact, Dr. Chu is so certain of this danger that he would rather us build nuclear plants than risk “tundra melt,” which is exactly what the President is now proposing.

While nuclear technology has greatly improved, there are two unfortunate parts of this plan. First, it is incredibly expensive and once again, the taxpayers are being asked to pay for it. Second, if we would start investing in energy efficiency and renewables, we could be giving ourselves the money and we would not need to build any nuclear plants. That is what net-zero homes and distributed power are all about. We have a few of these programs in place already, but funding for all of them is nowhere near what one nuclear plant will cost.

Maybe building energy-efficient homes and wind turbines is not as sexy, but it is a lot cheaper and much safer.

–Mark Alvis

Become an Alviston fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. And don’t forget to invite your family and friends to do the same!

When you live in a place for a long time, you tend to get used to things whether they are good or bad. Seeing the same thing every day over time, even when it is wrong, numbs you.

My good friend William just returned to the Valley after living overseas for more than 25 years. He worked in Beijing and Hong Kong and, for the most part, lived in high-rise apartments. Because of the good public transportation system in Hong Kong, a car was not needed. There was a grocery store on the floor below him; it made sense.

There have been several changes here in the Valley since William left. One of them is the way kids get to and from school. When William and I were growing up in Reedley, kids walked, rode their bikes, or took the bus. Very few parents drove their kids to school. Now, it is pretty much the norm. To those of us who live here, it has been a gradual change and acceptance of things being just the way things are. Because of his experience, William noticed it right away, and to him it seemed incredibly wasteful. There are kids right across the street whose parents drive them to the same school that William drives his kids to. Just a little bit of neighborhood organization could save gas and time, as well as nurturing a community spirit.

However, it was not so much the things that have changed, as the things that have not changed, that William noticed. He cannot believe that we still drive big huge vehicles that run on gasoline, or that so many families live in separate houses, both of which are not only very wasteful, but also very expensive. After living in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, it is not surprising that William sees these types of issues so clearly.

While most of us will never have the benefit of living abroad, we can learn from those who have. By listening carefully to people who have lived in other places we can better assess the way things really are in our own communities, and by doing this, we can learn to see through time.

–Mark Alvis

Last Wednesday I had the great honor of speaking to the USGBC folks down in Visalia. The U.S. Green Building Council is the organization that developed and runs the LEED program, which stands for Leadership in Environmental, Engineering, and Design. USGBC has chapters all over the U.S. and the one in Visalia is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Most of the time, I try to limit my presentations to one or two of our projects, but I knew that this audience was familiar with ICFs, SIPs, PV etc. Therefore, I decided to do an advanced version, covering several of our projects and a few that we had consulted on as well. It turned out to be sort of a crash course in what we have learned about energy-efficient building over the past ten years.

Each project brought new insights, not only about materials, but also about what it actually takes to build “green” here in the San Joaquin Valley. When we first started in 2000, insulated concrete forms had barely been used in California. Structural-insulated panels were a little more common, but it was still difficult to find subs that had the experience of working with these materials. Therefore, we did a lot of the work ourselves with a great deal of hands-on learning. There is just no substitute for that type of experience.  

What we have found is that energy-efficient homes can be built cost effectively, but it requires good planning and cooperation between the designer and the builder, and between the builder and the subs. We have found that the substantial reduction of waste is possible. In fact, building an ICF-SIP hybrid home with virtually zero waste is possible with the proper design, engineering, and manufacturing. This type of design also lowers labor costs by greatly speeding up construction.

Now, ten years after starting our first integrated home, we are hearing about “The New Green Economy” based on energy efficiency and renewable energy. To make this a reality, it is imperative that we understand how to incorporate energy efficiency onto our homes and buildings.

–Mark Alvis