Benefits and strategies for electrifying your home
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All Electric retrofit Case Studies from around the United States
Electrifying transportation is the world’s single largest climate change challenge, causing about 28% of total greenhouse gas emissions and 45% of smog-causing nitrogen oxides. More than half of these emissions come from passenger vehicles and light/medium/heavy duty trucks. Globally, about 75% of CO2 emissions from transportation are from road vehicles.
This document is intended for building designers, building energy modelers, model and compliance code developers, and anyone interested in Zero Net Energy design. This paper draws from the findings of the EPIC research project (EPC 15-097) optimizing domestic hot water in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. The research focused on the evaluation of domestic hot water heat pump systems in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. Final Report: Getting to All-Electric Multifamily ZNE Construction
On Thursday, February 25, 2021, Danny Tam of the CEC corresponded with Sean Armstrong of Redwood Energy on questions regarding modeling heat pump water heaters, which centered on the topic of how to answer the software prompt of whether natural gas is “available” to the building.
The guidance and citations shared by Danny Tam (see Correspondence on the next page) are summarized in the following two points:
1. On p.73 of the 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards “NATURAL GAS AVAILABILITY” is defined: “For newly constructed buildings, natural gas is available if a gas service line can be connected to the site without a gas main extension.” The CEC does not define “gas . ain extension,” and defers to the Utilities.
2. PG&E defines a gas “Main Line Extension” as an “Extension of electric or gas service from the main energy supply line to the customer’s facility.” A “supply line to the customer’s facility” is called a “Service Lateral” in language of Architects and Engineers.
The CEC does not have an independent definition of what constitutes a “gas main extension,”nor does it define whether a “site” is a building or a parcel, but Title 24 code regulates onlybuildings.
The Senior Mechanical Engineer of the CEC directs interested parties to a definition provided by PG&E. PG&E’s definition describes a Gas Service Lateral to a “customer’s facility,” which is more clearly speaking to a building, not to the parcel. Utilities deliver to meters that are nearor attached to buildings, not to the parcel boundary.
Consequently it is reasonable and appropriate for a Certified Energy Analyst to select “Gas Not Available” in the Title 24 software prompt when a Gas Service Lateral is not being extended to the parcel the building sits upon, nor to the building. With more than 50 cities in California banning gas in new construction as of March of 2022, and the California Air Resources Board announcing a new rule to end the sale of all gas appliances by 2030, a CEA will have to get comfortable with the relatively new practice of choosing the “Gas Not Available” setting in Title 24 software.
The result of choosing “Natural Gas Not Available” the first tab of the CEC Title 24 software is the software sets Propane as the only Available fuel. Propane boilers’ fuel costs are consistently higher than various heat pump water heater’s electricity costs, and a Title 24 model shows positive Compliance for heat pump boilers. This is true even without a .25-.35 solar fraction that is in the Prescriptive Code for all multifamily central water heaters.
This technology brief is intended for building owners, architects, MEP engineers, green building consultants, utilities, 3rd party demand response aggregators, and homeowners who are making design decisions around heat pump water heating (HPWH) systems in new construction multifamily buildings.This paper draws from the findings of the EPIC research project (EPC 15-097) optimizing domestic hot water in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. The research focused on the evaluation of domestic hot water heat pump systems in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. Final Report: Getting to All-Electric Multifamily ZNE Construction
This technology brief is intended for multifamily building owners, architects, engineers, and green building consultants working to design all-electric zero net energy (ZNE) multifamily buildings from the ground up. This paper draws from the findings of the EPIC research project (EPC 15-097) optimizing domestic hot water in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. The research focused on the evaluation of domestic hot water heat pump systems in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. Final Report: Getting to All-Electric Multifamily ZNE Construction
This technology brief is intended for multifamily building owners and operators to learn of the various methods by which their building can be monitored to understand performance and identify issues. This paper draws from the findings of the EPIC research project (EPC 15-097) optimizing domestic hot water in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. The research focused on the evaluation of domestic hot water heat pump systems in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. Final Report: Getting to All-Electric Multifamily ZNE Construction
This technology brief is intended for building owners, architects, MEP engineers, green building consultants, and homeowners who are making design decisions around heat pump water heating(HPWH) systems in new construction multifamily buildings. This paper draws from the findings of the EPIC research project (EPC 15-097) optimizing domestic hot water in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. The research focused on the evaluation of domestic hot water heat pump systems in four multifamily affordable all-electric new construction projects in California. Final Report: Getting to All-Electric Multifamily ZNE Construction
This technical guidance is directed at pool contractors, architects, educators, and program staff at relevant agencies, authorities having jurisdiction, and community choice energy programs. This guide is most appropriate for the single-family or smaller multifamily residential poolmarket, and touches on equipment sized for larger pools only briefly.
This guide includes the results of interviews with four Bay Area swimming pool contractors who install heat pumps, including the products they sell and best practices for designing with heat pump pool heaters. This guide draws from product documentation to identify the best products for Bay Area climates.
While common world-wide and regionally in the U.S. (e.g. Florida, Hawaii), heat pump pool heaters are a growing market in the Bay Area due to the ~1% adoption of all-electric new construction in California from 2010-2019, according to SCE’s internal review of building permits. As of spring of 2021, many Bay Area cities have adopted prohibitions or Code-based discouragements on installing natural gas infrastructure, making it necessary to provide technical assistance to designers who are supporting new construction of swimming pools.
This study examines the energy usage of five different technologies of cookware. Three insulated; a Crock-Pot model SCR200-R 2-QT slow cooker, a COSORI C3120-PC 2-QT pressure cooker and a Redmond 5-QT electric pressure cooker and two non-insulated; a SUNAVO 1500W electric cooktop, a Avantco IC1800 countertop induction range and an Air Core 8-quart insulated pot on the SUNAVO 1500W electric cooktop. Two different pressure cookers were used to see if volume influences cooking efficiency.
Study Question:
What amount of additional solar is required to make utility bills of an all-electric apartment
building cheaper than its gas hybrid counterpart, built to the 2019 California Title 24 New
Construction Low Rise Residential Multifamily Energy Code in all Southern California Edison
Territory Climate Zones?
Summary of Study:
Three scenarios were studied using a two-story multifamily project, all designed to meet
California’s 2019 Title 24 Code with minimum code compliant PV arrays.
The scenarios studied are as follows:
The two-story multifamily project of study consists of 26 residential apartments (Figure 1) and
was modeled using Energy Pro v8.0.3. The building of study was modeled in Southern
California Edison (SCE) Territories 5, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 16 residing in California Energy
Commission (CEC) Climate Zones 6, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 16 respectively.
Figure 1: The apartment building of study, modeled in all Southern California Edison Territories
Abstract:
This paper uses the best-available science to estimate of the rate of leakage of natural gas from extraction to end-user (“lifecycle”) for natural gas used within California. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a very powerful short-lived climate pollutant. Understanding the rate at which methane escapes from the natural gas system has important implications on both short term climate impacts and long-term infrastructure planning for a low-carbon future. The California Greenhouse Gas Inventory compiled by the Air Resources Board accounts for emissions from sources and activities that occur only within state boundaries. As California imports 90% of the natural gas consumed within the State, excluding emissions from out-of-state processes can skew how the carbon intensity of different energy sources compare to each other and how greenhouse gas mitigation programs are chosen. This paper found that natural gas consumed in California has a lifecycle leak rate of 3.6% [2.4 – 4.3]%.
….for comparison purposes, studies have revealed that if
2% of natural gas leaks before being combusted for end use, the climate benefit from the use of natural gas instead of coal is negated (Wigley 2011).
Trends in electrical consumption by air source heat pump water heaters in multi-family housing
Valley View Homes is just one of many similar CBH developments. CBH’s multifamily, affordable apartment complex for farmworkers completed in 2015, Calistoga Family Apartments, recently won the 2016 PCBC Golden Nugget Judges Special Award of Excellence. The award acknowledges CBH’s dedication to, “Community Spirit or Service”. That type of recognition could be part of the reason that three more CBH farmworker housing projects qualified for a total of $9-million in USDA low-interest loans in 2016. Those three projects constitute fully one-third of the projects chosen for these loans nationwide and half of those chosen in California. Of the nine eligible projects, six are in California; and five of those are Redwood Energy projects. Sean Armstrong is very proud of that accomplishment.
Redwood Energy conducts cutting edge research in Zero Net Energy economics. Technological advances combined with energy efficient design have made all-electric residential design cost competitive with conventional gas-electric hybrid models.
We have also done work supporting energy sovereignty. See the attached Bear River Band Rancheria Energy Sovereignty Master Plan for a full report. The following is an abbreviated description of details in the report.
"The Energy Sovereignty Master Plan is a detailed energy audit report with recommended improvements and cost analyses for best options for mechanical equipment replacement and building shell enhancement to reduce energy consumption in all buildings on the property. The report also includes alternatives and cost analyses for energy produced on site in four scenarios with combinations of biomass, solar, wind and battery storage. The report ends with financial resources available for the development of a micro-grid and energy resources."
Another research project supporting the energy sovereignty ambitions of the Bear River Band Rancheria is a complete Building Code for New Construction, which covers everything from Site and Design to Landscaping, Building Envelope, HVAC, Plumbing, Lighting and Appliances, Health and Materials, Performance, Renewable Energy, and Education.
Check back with our site as we reveal our research findings that show the environmental and economic benefits of all-electric building designs…
Sean Armstrong and Michael Winkler of Redwood Energy, Garret McSorley of K.Boodjeh Architects, and the Danco Group housing developers teamed up to address the housing needs of this population by building $e Cottages at Cypress, a net zero energy community. $is was the team’s third 100% net zero project, but the #rst to build houses rather than apartments.
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