Sonoma County business and political leaders have teamed up to establish the BEST program for economic development.
An economist would make the following arguments for buying new in this housing market: First, they’d say, a new house will cut your maintenance costs to the bone for a considerable period of time. Second, whole-house systems—both for heating and air-conditioning—will be more efficient, meaning it will stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. (Cool is always good, in all its senses.) Third, they would argue, energy efficiency through newer and improved methods of insulation will certainly keep money in your pocket. And finally, as if that weren’t sufficient, competitively low interest rates (not to mention the tax breaks that come with home ownership) will also create an opportunity for savings, which can be happily put to travel, grandkids, cultural and sporting activities and more.
For all these reasons, then, you should check out what Meritage Homes is doing on the south side of Santa Rosa, just south of the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, at Ragle Ranch, a 138-home community that’s being built to “extreme energy-efficient” standards. (Shall we call it “EEE” for short? That just sounds hot and hip, doesn’t it? Or cool and hip.)
“Making a home highly energy-efficient can really change peoples’ lives,” says C. R. Herro, vice president for environmental affairs for Meritage Homes (whose name, much like the wine category, is a coinage from the combination of “merit” and “heritage”). “The house functions better to improve comfort and health in addition to using less water and less electricity, so your utility bills are lower and the value of your house becomes greater. We install appliances that use markedly less energy over their lifespan, and it’s not as if you have to choose between cost and performance. These appliances are competitively priced, but the big thing is that they’re far more efficient, energy-wise, than what’s been available before.”
Meritage means business
Meritage Homes has been around for more than 25 years, and Herro says its founder, Steve Hilton, is the main reason he works for the company. “He’s a very interesting man; he has passion, he has drive, and he’s very competitive in trying to do better for our customers. In the last 26 years, we’ve put more than 65,000 families into homes that we’re very proud to have built.”
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Meritage builds homes in that state and this one, as well as Nevada, Colorado, Texas and Florida. In California, current projects are here in Santa Rosa and also Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, Gilroy and Mountain House. The ninth largest homebuilder in the country, Meritage was recently awarded the 2011 Energy Star Partner of the Year for its efforts to integrate advanced technologies into the design and building of new homes.
“We believe Ragle Ranch owners will be able to save up to 50 percent on their energy bills as compared with the average American house of the same size,” says Herro, a Chicago native (he’s a Cubs fan). “For example, we use what are called ‘low E2’ windows. These are windows that, in addition to being double-paned for better insulation values, are coated with a microscopically thin material [bonded to the surface of the glass] that reflects 80 percent of ultraviolet and infrared light. Windows are the largest source of energy loss in any home, and that sort of a reduction is pretty significant. That coating has to do with what’s called ‘emissivity,’ which is the ability of the coating to reflect light’s heat and energy. It’s pretty impressive. We used to use tinted windows, but that reduced the transparency of the windows way too much. The idea of a well-chosen window is that you can enjoy nature from inside your house.”
Herro, who thrills to the challenge of putting innovation to work to create a better human habitat, has been a corporate leader in environmental advances for more than two decades and takes pride in building a house that will give its owners a sense of security and a sense of satisfaction. He earned his bachelor of science in physical and life science from Arizona State University, one masters in environmental policy from Governors State; he earned another masters, this time in environmental engineering, from Illinois Institute of Technology (where he later added a Ph.D.).
Working in research and development over the last two decades, he’s led efforts to better control pollution, conceptualize new methods in flue gas desulphurization and has been influential in industrial process design, land redevelopment and building design. At Meritage for the last two years, his job is focused on improved sustainability systems and greater energy efficiency. The result was establishment of the company’s “Meritage Green” program. “It’s simple,” he says with a self-deprecating laugh. “We’re just trying to combine more contemporary design, better energy efficiency, improved water management and new building technologies with superior components. If we provide a more comfortable home with healthier air—not to mention a structure that costs less to own and operate—we’re going to sell a lot of homes.”
The management of air temperature figures large in energy efficiency. Home builders everywhere place their bets on what’s called the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER). “Building codes require a rating of 13 for new homes,” says Herro at the outset. “We set a minimum standard of 14 for ourselves and often achieve higher than that. You could, theoretically get as high as 21, but the costs would far outweigh any gain in efficiency. Mainly what we’re looking for is performance and reliability for every dollar spent. Heating and cooling use accounts for more than 40 percent of residential electricity use in this country. The higher the SEER rating of your heating or cooling unit, the greater its efficiency is…and the lower your operating costs are going to be. The more efficient air conditioning models of today, for example, can cut cooling costs 20 to 40 percent over models that are just 10 years old.”
Energy Star-certified appliances are another vital cog in the energy-saving machinery of home building today. “You have to remember that your appliances and your home electronics are responsible for upward of 20 percent of your home’s energy bills,” observes Herro, who drives a Ducati motorcycle. “We use Energy Star logo appliances because they use 10 to 50 percent less energy than required by federal standards. The quality is there, too. Energy Star appliances function better and save money in operating costs. It’s more a question of superior designs that use less energy to do the same job. There was a study done by the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] a couple of years ago that demonstrated Energy Star appliances saved about $14 billion in United States energy costs in 2006 alone!” That would get your attention.
Insulation: It’s more than you think
We all know insulation keeps the heat in and the cold out, but there’s more to it than just that. “We use foam insulation,” says Herro to begin the discussion. “In conventional construction, it’s fiberglass or sprayed cellulose—paper. That was fine up to a point. The problem was, you still had air flow. Fiberglass and cellulose are porous, but people talked about the R-factor [a measure of heat resistance in relation to insulation value] to gloss over that fact. But ultimately, air flow is the key issue. Foam insulation prevents air flow, and that’s where you can really keep the heat in and the cold out. Plus, you reduce outside noise by a factor of 4,000. Think about that: With double-paned windows and foam insulation you can reduce outside noise by 4,000 times.
“Foam is what they use in a sound studio to reduce the noise, because they have to get the best possible sound quality. In a normal house, you replace the entire air content of your house 70 times each day! That’s a lot. But with foam insulation, you can cut that to just five times. As you might imagine, lowering random air movement by that much can cut your heating and cooling bills significantly. Plus, with more controlled air circulation, the air in your house is much healthier. The polyurethane foam we spray seals the whole house, reduces your costs and gives you a much more healthy environment.”
Other little things also add up: Aerators on low-flow faucets reduce water use; dual-actuator toilets cut water use in half. “The trick,” says Herro, “is get all the performance you need using only the amount of water you need. We build 4,000 homes per year, so there’s an economy of scale built into that. It’s humbling to me but it’s also exciting to see that, when the customers of today choose to do things differently than they’ve done in the past, it can make life so much better. This way, a customer can afford more home. It helps the entire home-building industry provide a better value to the consumer.”
Just so, programmable thermostats have become de rigueur. “It’s an easy thing to do, really, to make the home smarter,” says Herro. “It lets you bring your lifestyle into the home and, in so doing, cut your heating and cooling costs. There’s no point, for example, in heating your house in the winter during the day if you’re away at work. You can cut those costs up to 30 percent by letting the thermostat reduce the fluctuations in heating. In the same manner, you can reduce your irrigation costs by making your irrigation system smarter. It’s not a huge thing, but it does add up.”
What also adds up is being smarter in paint selection. “The building industry used to use paints with solvents in them, which later leaked into the home’s atmosphere. That’s no longer tolerable. The EPA has determined that indoor air pollution is one of the four greatest risks to human health. Those mainly come from what are called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which can be found in cleaning solvents, adhesives, paints, varnishes and, strange as it may sound, rugs. Those are no longer used.”
The use of solar energy is an important part of electricity production, as well being used for heating and cooling. Meritage uses an Echo solar system, a complete solar solution that lets homeowners generate much more of their own energy than a basic solar electric (PV) system.
“Echo is the ideal, affordable, practical solution for homebuilders and homeowners who want a complete solution for home energy generation and utility savings,” says Vikas Desai, CEO of EchoFirst. “Echo generates all the types of energy used in the home—electricity to power the home, hot water for washing and bathing, and solar home heating and cooling—which helps homeowners meet their total home heating and cooling needs as well.
“Additionally, Echo provides fresh air ventilation. Many home buyers rank healthy indoor air quality as an important consideration in buying a home, and Echo lets builders meet the needs of these buyers. Echo’s technology is highly reliable and has been deployed by several leading builders throughout the nation.”
Echo helps builders achieve “net zero energy homes”—homes that generate as much energy as they use. “We believe a net zero energy home is no longer ‘the home of the future.’ It’s a practical, available option today,” contends Desai. “Leading builders, like Meritage Homes, are translating the many added advantages that Echo delivers into higher home buyer traffic and accelerated home sales. We’re proud that the Echo solar system has become the standard among builders who want to deliver the best clean energy solution available.”
The deconstructed house
Having once built my own house, it was fascinating for me to walk through Meritage’s “deconstructed” demonstration house at 1832 Honeysuckle Drive in Santa Rosa (off Linwood, south of the Fairgrounds). To see all of the newest in homebuilding technology “exposed” is quite a learning experience.
“I know it sounds outrageous, but the foam insulation—which includes the cathedral ceilings—cuts sound by a factor of 4,000,” says salesman Harry Young III. “In an older home, your attic temperature might reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit, but the insulation going all the way to the roofline cuts that maximum temperature to about 80 degrees. The foam is so much more effective than either fiberglass or wet-spray cellulose.”
He then points out that the PEX plumbing, a PVC-like material that prevents water scaling, requires fewer connections (“fewer moving parts, fewer potential problems”), is quieter than copper, is more durable than other materials and doesn’t lose the “hot” in your hot water delivery. A dual-tank hot water system serves to increase efficiency (less heat loss in delivery), and dual-flush toilets minimize water use by adapting as needed (less water use for urination vis-a-vis the other).
“I really like our thermostats,” he says, “because you can reset them via the Internet. When you’re driving home from skiing at Tahoe, you can use your computer or your smartphone to tell the system when and how to heat your home. How good it that?”
The bottom line, he says, is “What are you getting from the technology that’s now available? If it delivers a more efficient environment—an environment with cleaner, healthier air at a cost that’s affordable—I think that’s a pretty good deal.”
The author of nine books, Hinkle once built his own house from the ground up…in just 10 weeks “from chalk line to move in!” You can see his work at RichardPaulHinkle.com.
