No Sharks, no Jets — just super-cool systems for saving energy in new high school building

Students moving across Ninth Street to a remodeled WestSide High School this fall will be treated to state-of-the-art concepts in lighting and energy efficiency not available at any other buildings in the Wenatchee School District.

It’s a little gift to students and staff at the alternative school. They’ll enjoy the very best after being housed in what has been the worst of student facilities in the district.

It's not much to look at yet, but a remodeled WestSide High School will feature open rooms, skylights, LED lighting on daylight sensors and other energy-efficient equipment. The recessed area in the concrete floor used to hold the Eagles Lodge dance floor.

A swap with Wenatchee Valley College provided the 18,000-square-foot building, which is the former Eagles Lodge. The school district’s WestSide property – originally built 50 years ago as dormitories for the college – is now in WVC’s hands.

The school district is using reserves of more than $4 million to fund the move: $1 million for the property exchange (the Eagles building had higher value in the swap) and $3 million to remodel it into the new WestSide High School. An $810,000 state grant is paying for energy measures that will make the high school super-efficient.

The building has been gutted in preparation for construction work that will begin in mid-February. But Bryan Visscher, director of Facilities and Risk Management, has no trouble picturing what’s to come.

“Architects developed an open concept for common areas,” he said, pointing to the high ceiling. The building will feature “team rooms,” he said, gesturing toward the center of the vast open building, which will use movable, convertible walls as space for working on team projects. Classrooms, offices and counseling rooms will dot the perimeter. Students will get a real kitchen for the first time, along with a classroom kitchen for instruction in cooking and life skills. The new WestSide also will include art rooms and a resource center with computers and electronic library.

The entire building will be outfitted with light-emitting diode (LED) lighting on daylight sensors. As daylight increases, lights dim. As sunlight wanes, lights grow brighter.

The building will get plenty of natural light, Visscher said, through new windows and skylights.

Other energy benefits include an advanced, low-maintenance, highly efficient VRF (variable refrigerant flow) system for heating and cooling. In addition to offering superior comfort and efficiency, the system can take excess heat not being used in the building and heat domestic water, Visscher said

“We’ve taken an already cool design and just put it over the top,” Visscher said.

He’s planning an energy dashboard near the main entrance to display energy savings to visitors.

On a scale of 1 to 100 used by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager program, the old building scored a 6, Visscher said. He’s hoping to take that to a 75 or higher, which would give the school district one more Energy Star award to add to its collection of six awards received under Visscher’s supervision. The awards recognize outstanding improvements in the energy efficiency of schools, churches, hospitals and other public and commercial buildings.

WestSide Principal Kory Kalahar said a new school has been planned for many years. Forte Architects visited with WestSide staff several times, he said, to get ideas and feedback. “They really wanted the new building to help students maintain the atmosphere and culture they’re used to,” Kalahar said, noting that WestSide does not use bells or lights to let students know when periods end and begin. “It’s a more relaxed atmosphere. We have standards, and they’re high standards, but the atmosphere is different” than a traditional high school.

Staff should be able to move into the remodeled building in mid-August, with students following on Sept. 1.

The local builders association has a new name but is back with an old favorite: The Building! NCW Home Show runs Feb. 8-10 at the Town Toyota Center.

Chelan PUD conservation staff will be there, helping customers sign up for double rebates for adding insulation and upgrading windows and explaining how to get money back on super-efficient ductless heat pumps. We’ll unveil new offers for customers in 2013 to help pay for energy-efficient appliances, recycle old refrigerators, and seal leaky ducts in manufactured homes.

Home show coordinator Lindsay Shultz said dozens of vendors will be on hand with ideas for new construction, remodeling, landscaping, HVAC, flooring and more.

Feeling a little cooped up? A complete outdoor living space will be set up “that people can walk through and get a feel of what it would be like if they had one of their own,” Shultz said.

Lowe’s will return with its Kids Zone where youngsters can build something, plant something, or get rid of the ants in their pants in the inflatable castle (jumping is mandatory).

Hours are Friday, Feb. 8, 2 to 8 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 9, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors. Shultz said coupons for $1 off will be available around North Central Washington and on the Building NCW website closer to the show. The website still bears the old name – North Central Home Builders Association — but the group is now officially called “Building! NCW.”

Higher rebates for insulation and windows extended through 2013

An enthusiastic response from customers has prompted Chelan County PUD to extend double incentives for energy-efficient glass and insulation through 2013.

The double rebates offer began in October and was to expire at the end of this year. But the program has proved so popular with customers and retailers that PUD managers decided to extend it.

“We’re excited that so many customers are taking advantage of this to weatherize their homes,” said Mark Wiser, senior conservation adviser for the PUD. “For the customer, it means energy savings and improved comfort. For local businesses, it means additional work and jobs.

“For the PUD, it means we’re that much closer to meeting our targets for conservation” under the state Energy Independence Act.

Through 2013, customers will be eligible to receive rebates of $6 per square foot for new, energy-efficient windows and 50 cents per square foot for added insulation.

Since incentives were doubled to these rates on Oct. 3, the PUD received 78 applications from customers for rebates. That means about a third of all applications received so far this year were submitted in the last nine weeks.

Energy saved in Chelan County helps keep local rates low. When residential and business customers conserve, that power can be sold on the wholesale market at a higher rate. It also reduces the need to purchase higher-cost power when, on occasion, the power is needed to meet demand during the winter heating season.

Local retailers and contractors have seen an uptick in business this fall during a time traditionally slow for business and during a struggling economy. “We’ve talked to some local business people who’ve had trouble keeping up with all their orders for windows,” Wiser noted

Details on how to apply for rebates are on the PUD website here. Rebates also are available on ductless heat pumps. Rebates on energy-efficient appliances and a recycling program for refrigerators are planned in 2013.

Greg Jourdan uses a thermal imager to look for air leaks in this photo from Fluke Corp.'s online magazine.

WVC instructor’s thermal imaging work featured in online magazine

Wenatchee Valley College instructor Greg Jourdan’s success using thermal imaging to identify air leaks in a log home is featured in “Fluke News Plus,” an online publication of the Fluke Corporation.

The home discussed in the article is at Lake Wenatchee. The home’s owner contacted Chelan County PUD for help because the home was cold and drafty. Jourdan, an HVAC expert and Chelan PUD consultant, used thermal imaging equipment and blower-door technology manufactured by Fluke to spot air leaks. The PUD’s goal — and Jourdan’s –  was to identify problems that could help the homeowner improve comfort and lower electric bills.

The home ultimately was re-chinked and caulked to reduce heat loss.

Energy auditors  use thermography, also called infrared scanning, to detect thermal defects. Thermography measures surface temperatures by using infrared video and still cameras. These tools see light that is in the heat spectrum. Images on the video or film record the temperature variations of the building’s skin, ranging from white for warm regions to black for cooler areas. The resulting images help the auditor determine whether insulation or other measures are needed.

 Blower doors test air leakage in building envelopes. Blower doors use a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The fan pulls air out of the house, lowering the air pressure inside. The higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed cracks and openings.  These tests determine the air infiltration rate of a building.

“Infrared inspections were seen in the past as affordable solely for large commercial organizations, but now thermal imagers are more available and lower in price,” Jourdan says in the article. “Homeowners want to use the technology to find sources of energy losses: air leaks, insufficient insulation, and moisture problems. Over time, correction of these problems will save the homeowner a significant amount of money.”

But homeowners can take action to improve energy efficiency without using special equipment. Jourdan’s recommendations are simple:

• Seal air leaks throughout the home to stop drafts
• Add insulation to block heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer
• Choose ENERGY STAR qualified windows when replacing windows

Chelan PUD offers weatherization rebates to customers who add insulation and upgrade windows.

Read Jourdan’s article here.

Brothers Mike Schramm (left) and Mark Schramm have been building Lake Chelan area homes together for 19 years.

Lake Chelan homebuilders incorporate energy efficiency now for comfort and savings in years to come

It seems only fitting that a homebuilder who is vigilant about not wasting energy would build his house in Karma Kanyon.

Good karma – and good energy savings – is anticipated for Mark Schramm’s home, now taking shape among the grapevines on the south shore of Lake Chelan.

Schramm and his brother, Mike, are the owners of Green Gables Construction. They’ve been building homes in the area for 19 years, but this is the first home Mark has built for himself. Ownership of a lot in Karma Kanyon ensures a killer view of the lake, hiking trails out the back door, use of a community pool and sipping privileges at Karma Vineyards.

But when it comes to comfort, it’s what’s inside the three-bedroom, 3,200-square-foot house that counts. Mark and Mike are incorporating energy-efficient details that cost a little more now but will save a lot in the long run.

How much more? Five percent? “Not even that much,” Mike said. Added Mark, “It’s just not that much more than a conventional home. It will pay for itself over time in (energy) savings.”

To improve energy efficiency, Mark and Mike:

• Placed four inches of rigid insulation under the entire concrete slab foundation.

• Used AARX insulating concrete forms (ICF) for the basement walls which, in addition to being highly energy efficient, are easy to install, Mark said. “They snap together like Legos and there’s no furring; you can put sheetrock right on top of it,” he said.

• Caulked and sealed every possible source of air penetration, including the base of stud walls.

• Installed double-pane, argon gas, low-e windows. Triple pane windows would have been nice, Mike said, but are expensive.

• Used double-wall construction on exterior walls. Instead of 2”x6” walls on 16-inch centers, which is standard, the contractors built two 2”x4” walls with 24” spacing. This leaves room for blown-in fiberglass insulation with an R value of 40-plus (energy code calls for R24), and plenty of space for wiring and plumbing, they said. They plan to insulate the ceiling to R60 (energy code is R49).

• Built overhangs slightly larger than standard to reduce direct sunlight into the home.

Keen Climate Change of Entiat is installing a ductless heat pump system – one outdoor unit with three interior “heads” – for heating and air conditioning. Keen also is equipping the house with a heat recovery ventilator designed to provide fresh air and improved climate control, while also saving energy by reducing heating (and cooling) requirements. The Schramms favor these units because they are super efficient and very quiet.

Mark is not planning to add solar modules to his home, but Mike placed them on his, in Union Valley. That house, built in 2000, uses solar power to heat water. In the winter, solar power also heats the water in the hydronic tubes used to warm Mike’s basement.

The brothers built one small house, also in Union Valley, that was so tight “a light bulb would have heated it,” Mark said.

Mark and Mike have built other homes that lean toward green, but none that incorporates aspects such as minimal use of off-gassing materials, reclaiming water on the home site, or integrating renewable energy. But they do incorporate many energy-efficient measures.

“People say, ‘Power is cheap here,’ Mark said. “But why not do something good when you can?

“Although very energy efficient, what we like about the last house we did this way was how incredibly quiet it was,” he added.

Mark expects his house to be the same. Makes for good karma.

Double wall construction

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Double-wall construction gives Mark Schramm's home extra room for insulation.