Home Green Homes

“We shouldn’t imagine that we’ll just get a $20,000 home loan and decarbonize the whole house. We could do that, but that’s not the most common way. More common, like you said, people are gonna have something that’s breaking or just broke, and they need to replace it. Now is the time to spend the money and I’m going to get an electrified version.  That means like a 8-year horizon. You can get the whole house like by 2030 and that would be great for the planet.”

Sean Armstrong is the Managing Principal of Redwood Energy and has worked for 25 years in building electrification, designed the retrofit and new construction of more than 10,000 all-electric residences for disadvantaged populations, co-authored five practical guides to building electrification, provided legal and technical support to dozens of gas bans nationwide, helped develop the 2016/2019/2022 and 2025 Title 24 California Energy Codes, and has received sustainable design awards from the United Nations, the U.S. Department of Energy and the SoCal Building Industry Association.

Together Redwood Energy has led the design of more than 1500 units of Zero Net Energy, all-electric affordable housing, and 200 all-electric market rate residences. They provide Title 24 modeling, design support and Utility Allowance modeling to create cost-effective Zero Net Energy housing. Their projects range from cottages to high rise residences, commercial spaces and large facilities.

Publications of comprehensive resources by Redwood Energy based on their extensive research are available on their website.

What you need to do is to talk to somebody that understands it all, that can look at and understand what’s going on in your home and help you decide what aspirational approach or what would be possible, and then back down as necessary. And you’ll get the best possible result.

Passive House (Passivhaus) represents today’s highest energy standard for building performance with the promise of reducing the operational energy consumption of buildings by up to 75% in California, while providing superior comfort and extreme indoor air quality – all with minimal additional upfront investment. When coupled with renewable energy systems, such as solar PV, Passive House puts zero net energy within easy reach. Passive House is a proven standard, already applied to more than 100,000 buildings in all climate zones and is growing exponentially. [passivehousecal.org]

Jay dissects the Passive House in an understandable way, offers an insight of what makes a passive house, benefits and how to have passive house.

To watch the interview with Jay's presentation, go to YouTube channel.

“We have maximum above ground size limit for the homes. Sometimes cities or HOAs would have minimum size limits, but we have maximums. The reasons are two-fold: One to maintain the human scale so that we don’t have enormous homes. Also because one of the easiest ways to make homes more sustainable or to building in general is to limit their size.”

Mulberry Grove in Moab, Utah, is a community developed by an architect Kalen Jones and his associates on a 20-acre of land with 42 lots developed in mid-2000s. This unique community was designed with an intention to make it sustainable and pedestrian centric residential community providing open space and connection to nature. It was developed as HOA giving the authority for HOA to manage the infrastructure and providing “green building program” as a guideline for the property owners to build on the lots.

Kalen discusses the brief history of the development and some of the features that makes this community unique and sustainable. The slideshow is available here. For more information, contact Kalen Jones at [email protected].

“We now have a much evolved scope of how we are thinking about creating a better places for people to live, and looking at how to create regenerative neighborhoods that are truly creating more energy, more thriving lives for folks that more equitable, more vulnerable that helping address issues of climate resilience.”

To facilitate new ways of thinking, Build It Green convenes stakeholders tackling challenges around housing in California. By enabling collaboration across silos, we can collectively start to envision the regenerative housing ecosystem we want to see—one that meets the interconnected needs of individuals, communities, and the environment.

Hannah Bruegmann, director of initiatives, shares the brief history of the genesis of Build It Green and about the different programs Build It Green developed and operate over the years and how each can benefit the home building industry, building professionals as well as homeowners.

The resources she mentions include CalGreen for the updated California building code as well as Switch Is On where consumers can check on the incentives available for energy upgrades.

“I realized that I had to take the matters in my own hand. So it’s not just research the materials and the fixtures, and all the nice end product finishes. You had to make sure there’s no VOCs in your cabinets and flooring, and beyond that. I realized I had to research all the mechanical pieces and what goes behind the walls. It was frustrating but I realized if I didn’t do it, I’d be making a huge mistake.”

Lisa is a Director Sustainability at Metrolink with a long history in the sustainability field. A few years ago, Lisa and her husband decided to remodel their home and committed to walk the walk of living a sustainability by converting their home into a “green home.” Decabonization, by eliminating the gas line and electrifying the home was the major element of this project. She shares how she went about achieving this and about the challenges she had to face as well as some of the specific choices she made in doing so.

At certain points I think a lot of the building owners and management companies see the writing on the wall coming with policies changing not only at city level but also at state level with benchmarking, and conservation code is coming out, stretch code is coming out that they’re going to need to basically comply with within the next 10 to 20 years, next two decades. In a lifetime of a building, that’s pretty short. So they need to start investing now, and if they have free help from a local non-profit, then they are going to jump on it. So that’s kind of what our selling point has been there. But then also we are encountering a lot of building owners who do care about their tenants.

USGBC-LA’s The Green Affordable Housing Program (GAHP) was developed to support all Angelenos in having healthy, efficient, and resilient places to live, work, and play. This program delivers green community resources to disadvantaged communities and historically underserved neighborhoods that are energy-inefficient or burdened with pollution sources that are hazardous to communities’ health. The GAHP provides owners and residents of multi-family properties located in the Eastern San Fernando Valley with strategies for reducing energy and water costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Green Affordable Housing Program provides:

Workshops for both property owners and tenants will be delivered at 20 selected multi-family properties. Participants will also receive a toolkit with resources on sustainable practices and occupant health, programs and rebates, tips on water and energy savings, building retrofit support and more!

“Anytime moisture is in the house, it not only can create a potential for mold growth or mildew, it can raise the humidity levels drastically based on what’s going on and how long it’s been going on, and that can actually create a very unhealthy environment inside the house.”

Amanda Klecker is a Certified Building Biology Practitioner and Certified Professional Inspector trained with the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. Amanda is passionate about helping homeowners create their own healthy living environment. Over the last few years, Amanda has become a green living expert in terms of keeping a healthy house. She is constantly involved in learning about the newest found toxins and solutions for healthy living.

Amanda offers a wide variety of resources on her website as well as via Instagram for homeowners, homebuyers, and real estate agents to identify health issues in home environment and tips and ideas for creating healthier living.

“What I envision is where everybody has healthy homes regardless of your income, your age, your ability, your race of gender whatever it may be. Everybody has access to clean, comfortable home that’s energy efficient, that’s run of clean renewable energy that’s not wasting any necessary resources.  I really think that’s possible. It’s possible even now. It’s not 20 years from now, but it’s possible right now. If you want to make that happen, we can absolutely make that happen. That’s my message. You know when there’s a will, there’s a way. I completely believe in that.”

Avideh is a Southern California based licensed Architect specializing in sustainable/regenerative design. She believes that though buildings are primarily a matter of tectonics, they emerge from and contribute to social and ecological systems. While she has previously served as co-facilitator of the Living Future Los Angeles collaborative, as well as co-chair AIA Los Angeles Committee on the Environment, she is currently on the steering committee of the AIA California Climate Action Committee, leading AIA CA's efforts on embodied carbon. I also sit on the board of directors of USGBC-Los Angeles chapter.

Avideh shares of her history and passion that led her to where she is today professionally, and her experience as an owner/founder of ZEROHOUZ, which is her personal journey to renovate a small 99-year old home in Signal Hills into a regenerative home as an example of what can be done.

Avideh has partnered with Building Decarbonization Coalition to utilize a campaign called, “Switch Is On” that educates the general public about the importance of home electrification.

"We can talk about your particular situation and what’s best for you. Don’t ever get confused. Clients (home owners, buyers, investors) should recognize that they are the drivers. Everybody else is merely tools to help you get where you’re going. But you need guidance sometime to help you learn just what you can do and then you can make a qualified decision."

Mike Young is a 203K consultant, who has helped homeowners, home buyers as well as investors to achieve their goals for their new home visions. As a 203K consultant, he works with lenders who offer FHA 203K loan, which is a loan that includes renovation loan, which upon completion of the renovation work, becomes commonly used FHA loan, 203B.

His job is to inspect homes to identify what can be done to improve the property structure-wise, cosmetically as well as energy efficiency wise to come up with a scope of work to put out for bids. Once the borrower selects the contractor based on their bids, 203K consultant would act as an liaison between the lender, contractor and the borrower to assure smooth construction process and underwriting process.

The new research has shown that when the humans are connected to nature in interior spaces, their blood pressure goes down, their serotonin level goes down, they got the dopamine kick in the brain that’s the happy hormone, and you end up with 15 to 20 % more creativity, happier wellbeing, 15% more productivity, and people want to be there so your attendance is higher and people would linger longer in the interior space, so you can see people kind of gravitate towards nature in any space. They are happier and more curious. So you have happier and healthier occupants.

Macelle Albelda is a biophilic designer, currently the Vice President of Sales for GreenMood Acoustical Moss Walls. Macella explains what “biophilia” means and its brief history, what are considered “Biophilic” design elements in the built environment and the benefits of them offering practical tips for people to integrate in their living space to live happier and healthier life even when living in the urban environments.