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Although Saratogans Michael and Audrey Vaggione enjoy sitting in the shade, they also like sunlight-- especially when it helps generate energy for their home.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
Solar System
Alternative energy enthusiasts get their day in the sun
By Shari Kaplan
The calendar has begun its annual push through the last few weeks of spring and the mercury is already climbing in the thermometer--the familiar gateway to summer lies open before us. Unlike its predecessors, the summer of 2001 is shaping up to be an odyssey of a different sort for the state of California. If the rolling power outages and "energy crises" of the past six months are any portent--coupled with Californians' PG&E bills that have risen even faster than the mercury--this summer may find tempers becoming as hot as temperatures.
Los Gatan Barbara Ott, Saratogans Michael and Audrey Vaggione and San Jose resident Frank Schiavo, however, are keeping their cool with a remedy that is so obvious it often goes right over people's heads--literally.
The sun.
"In industrial countries, 90 percent of all energy is from nonrenewable resources," says Schiavo, an environmental studies professor at San Jose State University for the past 26 years. "To me, it's just foolish. Rather than waste, why not use the sun? It comes to us free."
A longtime advocate for the environment, solar power and other renewable, clean energy generators such as wind and water, Schiavo practices what he preaches.
Not only is his 1,450-square-foot San Jose home a poster child for environmentally friendly energy sources--solar and otherwise--he's also worked as a consultant in the construction of a winery, two schools and more than 25 homes that use various solar design elements. He has also helped the owners of 43 additional homes remodel or renovate their houses to incorporate solar attributes. Ott is one of them.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Barbara Ott has more time to enjoy her garden now that workers are done installing the photovoltaic panels on the roof of her house.
According to Schiavo, the simplest way to harness the sun's energy is through "passive" solar design. Passive refers to many things in this context; what it doesn't refer to are the dark metallic sheets--photovoltaic panels--with which some homeowners cover their roofs. Those are "active" components. The panels are a powerful way to use the sun, but because of the time, labor and cost, not everyone opts for them. They're also not a good match for roofs that don't receive a lot of sunlight, due to the positioning of the house, the presence of tall trees, or both.
Among the most common passive solar elements in homes are windows (ideally double-paned for better insulation) that face south, overhangs of certain lengths and floors made of tile or concrete.
During the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky, a lot of light shines through south-facing windows. Its heat is absorbed by the floor, which Schiavo deems a "solar mass." By day's end, the floor returns its heat to the house, keeping it cozy at night. Schiavo also likes using columnar water-filled containers as solar masses to absorb and radiate heat during cold months as well as store and release coolness in hot months.
During the summer, when the sun is high in the sky, well-angled overhangs keep it from shining inside too much and raising inside temperatures. And as long as the floors don't get hit with sunlight, they remain cool to the touch, distributing their low temperatures during hot days and recharging themselves with coolness at night.
Photograph by Barbara Ott
Worker Edgar Beccera works on some of the 32 solar panels Barbara Ott had installed on the roof of her Los Gatos home.
Barbara Ott's house uses many solar components designed by Schiavo and colleague Sigmond Beck, an independent contractor and Los Gatos resident who does architectural design and detail. Architectural consultant David G. Smith also lent a hand.
"I've always wanted a little house that cooperated with the environment," Ott says. When her previous Los Gatos residence was severely damaged after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, she razed the house and used the insurance money to build her dream. She turned to Schiavo for help, having heard of him years ago from his environmental studies students who interned at her former employer, the Santa Clara County Planning Department.
By 1994, the house was finished, although it didn't get its active solar elements--32 photovoltaic panels that catch six to eight hours of sun each day and use it to generate electricity--until this year. But her passive system is nothing to sneeze at either: a row of double-pane windows facing south, concrete floors serving as thermal masses and a roof coated with bright white metacrylics to deflect sunlight and minimize heat absorption.
Thanks to these various attributes, Ott rarely uses her natural gas forced-air heater. She has a cheaper alternative anyway--a wood-burning stove with positive draft control that makes for high fuel efficiency and low wood consumption. She's also installed long-lasting, energy efficient fluorescent bulbs in many of her light fixtures.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
MC Solar Engineering owner Mike Clifton and an assistant install solar panels on the Saratoga home of Michael and Audrey Vaggione.
It's the solar panels, however, that have Ott the most excited. Installed by Sunnyvale-based MC Solar Engineering, the panels generate five to six kilowatt hours of electricity on the average sunny day. They produce direct current voltage, so machinery called inverters--installed on the back of Ott's house--convert the voltage into the alternating current needed to run home appliances.
According to MC Solar Engineering owner Mike Clifton, the inverters are sophisticated pieces of equipment tied in to the PG&E power grid. They constantly monitor not only the panels, but also the frequency and voltage happening on the grid.
"A lot of people never knew that photovoltaic systems are a viable choice that don't require you to be a millionaire to have," says Clifton, who adds that since the power crisis began, his solar installation business has increased "beyond my wildest dreams."
Saratogan Michael Vaggione is also working with Clifton to create a system to fit the needs of his home and lifestyle. A software consultant who frequently works out of his home, Vaggione says the prospect of increased power outages concerns him.
Not only is he having photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of his ranch-style home; he has also opted for a battery backup system that is kept charged to deliver four hours of uninterrupted power in case of an outage. Vaggione also simply likes the fact that he and his family can cut a sizable chunk out of their utility bills.
Photograph by Mark Kocina
One of MC Solar Engineering's workers brings equipment up to the roof of Michael and Audrey Vaggione's Saratoga home.
"When you look at the power crisis, the stupid thing is PG&E thinking they can buy at a market price and sell at a fixed price," he says. "Free market is great, but you need to keep things safe and sane."
Taking advantage of the sun to create solar energy, Vaggione says, is something people can do to gain some self-sufficiency, thereby gaining their own small amount of control over the power crisis.
"Solar [systems] can be installed more rapidly than of any other energy source," he says, naming water power and wind power as two examples. "If not energy independent, at least solar power is energy friendly."
"It's interesting to see all of this being rediscovered," Schiavo says of solar-oriented homes. "A lot of this was discovered 3,500 years ago by the ancient Greeks. They had a law that you couldn't build a house that shaded the south side of your neighbor's house!"
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Mike Clifton, owner of MC Solar Engineering, explains to Barbara Ott how her newly installed inverters turn solar energy into electricity.
Back to modern times, Schiavo says he's noticed three reasons why solar-powered homes are not as common as he wishes they were. One reason is that most people have never been in a "solar home" (active and/or passive) and therefore may hold incorrect notions about its appearance.
Architects are sometimes reluctant to design solar-friendly homes because it's easier to follow tried-and-true designs, and home builders, especially those that build tracts, are sometimes afraid to introduce an unknown factor into their plans, lest it prove unprofitable.
"A solar home doesn't look ugly, and there's certainly no reason for the architecture to look weird!" Schiavo says, chuckling. "The three main goals should be practicality, aesthetics and affordability. Whether you're remodeling an existing home or building one from scratch, solar design can be done for the same price per square foot as a normal house. It also costs less to heat it and less to cool it!"
And thanks to California Assembly Bill AB29x, signed May 16 by Governor Gray Davis, the California Energy Commission has increased its rebate program for homeowners who install solar systems. Previously at $3 per installed watt, it's now up to $4.50 per watt.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Now that the photovoltaic panels in her solar system are up and running, Barbara Ott says she loves watching her power meter run--backwards.
While Ott likes the rebates, what she says she really loves is watching her PG&E power meter turn backwards during sunny days, thanks to her solar panels. "It feels tremendously wonderful!" she exclaims of her falling meter and falling utility bills. Eventually, she hopes to generate so much power that she can get her bills to zero. Californians are currently unable to sell their own excess power back to PG&E, Clifton and Schiavo say, but there are political bills in the works that may allow this as well.
"It generates a lot of joy and enthusiasm," Clifton says of utility meters going backwards. "After we get their system going, people run out and look at their meters and break out in smiles like kids on Christmas Day!"
Ott definitely has more to smile about these days.
"I'm an energy farmer now. I have solar panels producing electricity for me to use, but what I don't use goes back into the grid for others to use," she says.
"Even the passive solar parts of my house help me to be an energy farmer. Even when people change a light bulb (from incandescent to fluorescent), they're helping save energy. I'd like other people to know that they can be energy farmers too, in many different ways."
Silicon Valley Community Newspapers reporter Kate Carter contributed to this article.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
