Cash/Darienzo Solar Story: Every Last Drop of Sunshine

Check out this great case study by Mark Darienzo, which was originally shared by one of our members, Solar Oregon. The house is Passive House Certified and both the ADU and the house are Earth Advantage Platinum Certified. Green Hammer (another ZERO Coalition member) built the house and the ADU was built by NW Tactical Designs.

Six new solar panels on south facing roof of main house. To the right and left of the older panels

Robin Cash and I were regular attendees at the Net Zero talks sponsored by Solar Oregon many years ago. We learned a lot about solar panels and energy efficiency. Robin always dreamed about building a house, especially an energy efficient one where we can stay warm without running up high energy bills. We decided to build an all-electric Passive House and in 2011 contracted with Green Hammer to build it. A 3000 gallon underground cistern and a water filtration system, that allowed for in-house use of rainwater, was installed as well. We moved in August 2012.

Also in 2012 we signed a twenty-year Power Purchase Agreement with SunRun to install fourteen Solar World 235 watt solar panels (3.29 Kw) on the south side of our roof and a Fronius IG Plus inverter attached to the west side of the house. R&S Energy was the installer. The panels were installed June 2012. We paid $6000 upfront and recouped it through four yearly $1500 state tax credits. SunRun received the Energy Trust of Oregon money and the Federal tax credit.

Electrical system for solar panels on main house (Enphase IQ combiner, Fronius IG Plus inverter and electric meters)

Because Robin was such a strong advocate for affordable housing, we decided to build an ADU in the back yard, rent to someone with low income, and charge very affordable rent. R&B Design Studio LLC in coordination with Enhabit provided the plans. NW Tactical Designs LLC built the ADU. The ADU was completed in July 2019 and our first tenant moved in August 1st.

Twelve panels on west side of ADU (barely visible) and three panels on south facing porch roof. Enphase IQ combiner is on the west side of ADU.

We hired Sunlight Solar to install solar panels on the ADU roof and more on the main house. Twelve Hanwha Q cell 315 watt panels were installed on the ADU on the west facing roof (3.75 Kw) and three on the south facing porch roof (0.945 Kw) for a total of 4.725 Kw. Six panels were installed on the south facing roof of the main house (1.89 Kw) to bring the total on the main house to 5.18 Kw. All the new panels have Enphase IQ 7 microinverters and all panels were installed April, 2020. Our new system went on-line May 5, 2020 The total for both the ADU and main house is 9.9 Kw.

The installation process took more time than anticipated because of an open permit for the existing solar panel attachments, new safety requirements with respect to emergency shut-offs and a need for an engineering assessment all on the main house. Then rainy weather and COVID-19 further postponed the install date.

For the 2020 tax year I will take advantage of federal tax credits for the solar panels as well as the all electric Chevy Bolt and Siemens electric car quick charger I purchased in 2020. The state money available for the Bolt was deducted from the purchase price.

It is unknown whether the system will be net zero. Besides my two electric cars: a plug-in hybrid 2016 Chevy Volt and Chevy Bolt, I have a fused glass kiln in the garage, a clothes dryer in the ADU and an electric stove and oven in the main house and ADU. Time will tell.

ZERO Coalition: 2019 Year-in-review

2019 was a great year for the ZERO coalition! A special thank you to all of our members that make this work possible. Read on to see what specific committees have been up to and keep up the good work (or join us) to make 2020 even better. 

Governance and Steering Committee 

ZERO’s Governance and Steering Committee functions as the coalition’s board. In 2019, this committee approved and welcomed 12 new members, developed and approved the new membership dues structure, and developed and approved a plan for ZERO coalition activities that will be supported by membership dues. This committee also approved a funding proposal that received Phase 1 funding from Portland Energy Conservation Inc. (PECI). The steering committee reviewed a funding proposal to the Bullitt Foundation for 2020 that is pending approval.

Technical Committee

In 2019, the Technical Committee created a 7 Cost-Effective Steps to Reach Zero Energy infographic with help from the Communications team. The 7 steps graphic can be used all across new building types and the goal is to provide more in-depth information related to all of the 7 steps per building typology in 2020. The infographic will be finished and released soon! This committee also laid out a roadmap of tasks and goals for 2020 that includes supporting the policy team with their goal of advocating that Oregon reach it's Zero Energy Ready equivalency goals in single-family residential new construction projects by 2023. 

JEDI Team

In April 2019, the Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Team hosted the Center for Diversity & The Environment’s Building the Foundation course for twenty ZERO Coalition members. Participants in this 2½-day training deepened their understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion. This course laid the groundwork for building relationships with racial justice communities, while also providing an opportunity for ZERO Coalition members to learn and grow with one another. Following the training, many participants joined the JEDI Team to continue advancing racial equity both personally and professionally. 2019 wrapped up with planning an equity training for a broader audience from the building architecture, engineering and construction industries in Spring 2020. Keep your eyes peeled for an invitation soon!

Communications Committee

In 2019, the Communications Committee developed the Communications Toolkit, a resource for Oregonians working to increase adoption of zero energy and zero energy ready buildings – policymakers, designers, builders, nonprofits, code writers, and climate justice advocates. The toolkit includes a resource hub with 6 fact sheets for different audiences. One of the fact sheets addresses the cost of new residential zero energy homes with a graphic to show the financial returns of zero energy homes. This committee also collaborated with the Technical Committee on the design of the 7 Cost-Effective Steps to Reach Zero Energy infographic. This committee sent out several newsletters to keep members informed about events, webinars, and other opportunities for coalition members. Committee members also hosted ZERO’s Sustainable Building Week Event “Zero Energy – A Foundation of Resilient Communities” at The Oaks Zero Energy Community at Rose Villa Senior Living. The Communications Committee is looking for new members so please let Ashley know if you would like to join. 

Policy Committee

Local government action: Many local governments in Oregon are striving to achieve local climate action goals and buildings are a key action area in these efforts. Three ZERO Coalition members - Climate Solutions, Earth Advantage and New Buildings Institute – are working together to provide information and resources to local governments throughout the state on local actions that can be taken to decarbonize buildings as well as how to participate in the 2020 residential energy code update process at the state level to ensure the state code meets the needs of local governments. For more information, contact Zach Baker.

2021 IECC success! Local governments and related agencies vote resoundingly in favor of improved efficiency in national energy codes with an estimated increase of at least 10%. Learn more on the ICC website and on NBI’s blog. 

Oregon State Code update: Energy codes are a cost-effective way to achieve energy and carbon savings. The Oregon Building Codes Division (BCD) updated the Oregon commercial energy code in the state for the first time in six years in October 2019. BCD ran a robust and lengthy process that engaged stakeholders and considered over 100 proposed amendments to the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code that would have significantly improved the stringency beyond the national model code, BCD switched the model code under consideration from IECC to ASHRAE 90.1-2016. Late in the process, BCD approved both the ASHRAE 90.1-2016 standard and the 2018 IECC as code anyway, only this time the 2018 IECC was adopted without the energy-savings amendments.  

While we are pleased to see improved commercial codes in Oregon, the ZERO Coalition is concerned about the title of the new commercial code. Calling it the “2019 Oregon Zero Energy Ready Commercial Code” is misleading. No evidence supports the idea that ASHRAE 90.1-2016 is even close to zero energy ready. In fact, ASHRAE itself has published two more stringent energy codes – 90.1-2019 and 189.1-2017– neither of which are considered zero-ready. 

The ZERO Policy Committee will continue to track code development in Oregon. We expect that the residential code and another commercial update will be happening in 2020. Contact Amy Cortese or David Heslam with questions and comments. 

Membership and Outreach Committee

We’ve added 12 new ZERO members in 2019 and we’re still growing! Please let Ashley know if you have organizations to recommend and/or if you want to be part of this committee. 

Welcome new members! 

10 Full Members:

City of Milwaukie, Community Energy Project, Ankrom Moisan Architects, R-Stud, SERA Architects, BlueGreen Alliance, The Environmental Center, Dream Home Building and Design, NorthWest AeroBarrier, Elemental Energy

2 Associate Members:

Elevate Energy, Solar Oregon

Check out all of our members and their websites.

Do you have a 2019 highlight to share? Post it below!

ZERO Volunteered with Community Energy Project

On a cold, but sunny Saturday in October, a few ZERO coalition members volunteered with Community Energy Project (CEP) to get a North Portland home ready for winter. We started off with an orientation at CEP’s office on SE Stark Street. Jackie Zusi-Russel, CEP’s Home Energy Score Assessor/Lead Volunteer Coordinator, and an active member of the ZERO Coalition herself, led the orientation with two of CEP’s talented In-Home Services Managers: Roc and Yuriy. We learned how to weatherize single pane windows by creating a sealed air barrier using pre-packaged weatherization kits. The kits included tough but clear shrink film sheets and plastic strips with edging to hold the shrink film in place. After practicing with the kits during orientation, we drove over to North Portland to begin work on a community member’s home.

We worked on the interior of the home, cleaning each window frame. We placed one plastic strip along each side of a window, sticky tape side down. Once the four strips were placed, we stretched the clear shrink film to fit the whole window, with at least 1” of excess film on each side. We smoothed out the film to make sure it was clear and then began gently tapping another plastic string with edging over the film and into the first strip to secure the film in place. This was the tricky part; sometimes it was difficult to get the second plastic strip to fit in neatly with the grooved edges of the first plastic strip! We finally achieved this on all four sides, and stood back to admire our windows, which were still clear, but had a protective air barrier to keep winter out. While the ZERO members busied ourselves with window weatherization, Roc and Yuriy worked on other projects to update the house in time for winter.

Overall, the experience was a fun and encouraging way to spend a Saturday morning. We learned about Community Energy Project’s mission to educate homeowners and weatherize homes across Portland’s community. And we helped a family prepare their home for winter, which will drastically decrease their energy costs, and reduce the energy load on their heating systems. CEP hosts volunteer days often, so I highly recommend checking them out!

Thanks to the ZERO members that volunteered: Zeta Fernando, Marla Harvey, Vinh Mason, and Jackie Zusi-Russel! 

Written by: Zeta Fernando, LEED AP ND