By Holly Prestidge | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: August 28, 2010

Credit: EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH

Solar panels on the roof of the garage are one feature of the energy-efficient home Randy Thomas and Diane Lewis are building in Chesterfield.

The running joke around Randy Thomas and Diane Lewis’ old Hanover County neighborhood was that the couple must have been from Vermont or Minnesota — anywhere cold.

That rationale would help explain why they installed solar panels, south-facing windows to catch the sunlight and warmth, and extra thick walls with added insulation in their home when it was built in the early 1990s.

If just a few environmentally friendly elements were enough to make people talk, just think what their new neighbors will say.

Thomas and Lewis, along with Mark Waring, vice president of Richmond-based Bain-Waring Builders, are building a home in Chesterfield County that’s so energy-efficient it’s among the first to be certified as such in Virginia.

Thomas and Lewis are building a zero-energy home, one that produces as much energy as its uses, therefore canceling out monthly heating and cooling bills. Through the use of solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling systems, a tightly sealed shell, energy-saving appliances — not to mention turning off lights when they leave a room — they’re looking forward to living in a home that’s not only cheaper for them, but better for the environment.

The timing, Thomas said, was just right for them to build.

“The technology has finally gotten to the point where you can reasonably do this kind of a home without a whole lot of extra work,” he said this month as he walked through what will soon be his new home. The house is approximately 2,900 square feet. From their front yard they can see the horses of nearby Keswick Farms.

“The materials are there, the technology is out there [and] the prices are coming down,” Thomas said, citing federal rebates and state grant money for solar panels and geothermal systems that cut their costs for those items by one-third.

On top of that, “if I don’t have to pay utility bills for the rest of my life, that really lightens the load,” he said.

Thomas and Lewis knew what they wanted, though finding information on zero-energy homes wasn’t easy. For that reason he started a blog so others could learn from their experiences.

“When I did Internet searches to try to get some guidance, there’s just nothing there,” he said. “I had to go through hundreds of entries before I’d find little nuggets that were actually helpful.”

They also needed a builder. Lewis and Waring knew each other from an eco-brokerage conference a few years earlier.

“We started talking about the kind of house we were looking to build, [and] I could see his eyes start to light up,” Thomas said. “The light bulb went on there. It really was a nice partnership.”

Every decision — from the type of paint to sorting through options for energy-efficient windows and appliances — was done within the larger scope of how it would affect the home’s efficiency, Thomas said.

Their new home is tightly sealed and well-insulated. It sits on a conditioned crawl space, meaning that the underbelly of the home is insulated exactly as the house itself, right down to the ground. There’s no insulation in the floor joists, and the air is blown into the crawl space so that it’s always the same temperature and humidity as inside the house.

Most homes built nowadays refresh air every one to two hours, but this home will do it every seven hours, Waring said. And while most homes leak air from ducts all over the house, at a national average of about 28 percent, this home’s ductwork is so tight that a fraction of that — about 2.5 percent — leaks out, he said.

Combine that with a geothermal heat pump, which uses the ground as its heating and cooling source, energy-efficient windows, ceiling fans and appliances, LED and compact fluorescent lighting, and solar panels on the garage roof, and you’ve got a home that doesn’t rely on carbon-based energy sources.

“Energy is going to be finite, whether it’s going to be in 20 years or 50,” Thomas said.

Before they move in, the house will undergo a series of tests to show how “green” it is and to check the energy efficiency of the home’s design.

EarthCraft Virginia is the organization that pressure-tests air systems, ductwork and more and then certifies homes at three levels, with the highest being the platinum level, which is what Thomas and Lewis are striving for.

High-performance homes, as EarthCraft Executive Director KC McGurren called Thomas and Lewis’ home, are “very rare, particularly with new construction.”

She said there are only two EarthCraft Platinum-certified homes in Virginia. While the average Earthcraft home is about 28 percent more efficient than traditional homes built today, McGurren said Thomas and Lewis’ home could be as high as 75 percent to 80 percent more efficient than a standard home.

Thomas said he’s been asked how long it’ll take for him to recoup the extra money he’s spent to make his home energy efficient. He said his energy-efficient options are no different from someone who turns a two-car garage into a three-car garage, or adds on a game room.

“Does anybody go back and say how many years before that extra garage pays off, or your pool-table room?” he said. “If it’s important to you, how is it any different?”

Waring echoed Thomas’ thoughts, using irrigation as the example.

“People always want to put that $5,000 in sod and irrigation,” he said. But they could put that extra money into their home “and all of a sudden it’s 40 percent more efficient.”

“And the grass dies every year,” Waring added.

Lewis said there’s a misconception that energy-efficient homes are much more expensive than standard homes. Waring said constructing a tight shell and duct system at this home has added about $3 to $5 per square foot. He said as homeowners add elements such as geothermal systems and solar panels, the costs can go up, though rebates and grants help with those expenses.

Thomas and Lewis are scheduled to move into their house next week.

“We’re getting of the age where you think about being creative . . . [and want] to pay something forward,” Thomas said. “This is an opportunity to try and do that.”

What’s going into this house

• Low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint means it has less of the toxic material that leads to poor air quality inside the home.
• Appliances — Energy Star appliances throughout the home.
• Tightly-sealed ductwork — Most homes leak air at a rate of about 28 percent. This home’s ducts will be sealed so that virtually no air leaks.
• Light bulbs — LED or compact fluorescent bulbs.

Advertising Feature — By Rachel Fallert
May 20, 2010

With energy costs on the rise, it is more important than ever to improve existing homes. New lines of windows, insulation, doors, air conditioner and more are available that not only add value to a home, but are cost efficient in the long run.

FALLERT HEATING & COOLING

•SOUTH LYON

A home energy audit is the first step to understanding how much energy is consumed in a home. Fallert Heating & Cooling of South Lyon can evaluate all aspects of a home’s energy use. Proper energy management will keep all systems running efficiently. An energy audit of electrical heating and cooling includes checking insulation, draft stopping, windows and doors, as well as the overall envelope of the home. The assessment will determine the efficiency of the heating and cooling system and how to conserve energy. Corrections in the system will save homeowners time and money.

(continued below)

Internal Sponsorship:
Just released from GreenEcoClub the DIY Easy-Energy-Audits. This step-by-step guide will show you how to do energy audit on your home like the pros. Easy-Energy-audits

Air conditioners are 50 percent more efficient today than ever before. Homeowners can cut up to half or more of their electric bill when installing a high efficiency air conditioner. Fallert Heating & Cooling installs a full line of air conditioners to suit any home. Planned maintenance is important to keep air conditioners and heating systems operating at peak efficiency. All systems must be maintained in order to keep energy costs lower. Heating systems should be checked in the fall right before the heating season, and air conditioners in the spring before the cooling season.

Geothermal systems are the most efficient way to heat and cool a home. The system draws heat of the ground to warm and puts heat in the ground to cool the home. The temperature of the ground about five feet under the surface stays relatively stable throughout all seasons. Not only is this energy efficient and environmentally friendly, the tax credit for geothermal systems have been extended. Homeowners who install geothermal systems may be able to claim up to 30 percent of the installed cost in tax credits in the year the system is placed into service and it no longer has a cap.

(continued below)

Whether a homeowner is installing a new or old system, planned maintenance is crucial to keep heating and cooling systems operating at peak efficiency. It will not only increase the lifetime of the system but will also ensure it is energy efficient.

Fallert Heating & Cooling is located at 10075 Colonial Industrial Drive in South Lyon. Visit www.fallertheatingcooling.com or call (248) 782-5861.

KC CONSTRUCTION

•GARDEN CITY

While many homeowners believe now is the time to pick up and sell rather than invest in their current home, KC Construction believes it is the perfect time to stay put and make some updates that will add value and increase energy efficiency. Making small changes such as new windows, insulation or siding will not only keep a home in shape — it will add value back faster than non-energy efficient homes.
 
Insulated siding includes custom gapless fit with a layer of polystyrene foam between the home and siding. The insulation can reduce the heating and cooling energy loss through exterior surface walls up to 20 percent. The thermal resistance in insulated siding can reach up to triple the value of other siding options. It is more durable than traditional siding, and it is resistant to pressure and wind, allowing it to last up to 50 years. Insulated siding helps reduce outside noise with a layer of polystyrene foam that acts as a great sound barrier. With all the benefits of insulated siding, including the increased curb appeal, the most appealing of all is the decrease in home energy costs and greater efficiency.

KC Construction provides expertise in all phases of residential and light commercial construction work, specializing in exterior work. The company offers reconstruction as well as remodeling services — anything from one storm door to an entire subdivision.

The company sells do-it-yourself supplies with free usage of its equipment for various projects. Visit KC Construction June 12 for an open house event, featuring manufacturer’s representatives, a car show and give-a-ways.

MECHANICAL ENERGY SYSTEMS

General

• ZigBee Alliance

United States

• ENERGY STAR
• US Department of Energy’s “Your Home”
• US Department of Energy’s “”Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE)”
• Renewable Energy Research Laboratory
• Institue for Energy Research
• US Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
• Consumer Energy Tax Incentives
• IRS – Energy Incentives for Individuals in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
• Residential Energy Tax Credit (US IRS Form 5695 2009)
• DSIRE Database for State Incentives for Renewable’s & Efficiency
• IREC Interstate Renewable Energy Council 

Australia

• Energy Labeling Standards in Australia

 Canada

• Canada Energy Guide

United Kingdom

• Energy Saving Trust (UK Site)

Wind Links

• US DOE Wind Maps and Wind Resource Potential Estimates
• NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Wind Maps
• Renewable Energy Atlas of the West
• Bergey Wind Maps

 1500 tax credit, department of energy links, energy efficient homes, tax refund, 1500 dollar tax refund, home energy efficiency

Published On Sat May 15 2010

Diana Zlomislic Staff Reporter

Mike Preston's company installed geothermal systems that many of his customers say don't work.

Mike Preston was everything his environmentally friendly customers wanted in a contractor.

The Oakville entrepreneur promised homeowners across Ontario he could solve their energy woes with state-of-the-art geothermal systems. They’d be cool in the summer and warm in the winter, saving money and the environment along the way. He said he was an accredited specialist who could help them get government rebates.

What happened next — the complaints of shoddy and unfinished work, the utility bills that doubled, the missing money — is part of a growing problem in the loosely regulated green building industry, a Star investigation has found.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to do something that’s so right,” says Lesya Cooper of Richmond Hill, who paid Preston more than $70,000 before he vanished — leaving a couple of holes in the wall where two gas furnaces used to be.

During the past two years, Ottawa, Ontario and the City of Toronto have handed out more than $1 billion in government rebates and interest-free loans to help homeowners and residential developers go green.

Despite the growing number of incentives — the list fills a 65-page document — the Star found there are few quality-control standards to protect consumers from incompetent “eco experts” looking to cash in on the booming industry.

Shoddy building is not unique to the green sector: Lawsuits and complaints against architects and contractors are common in the traditional home building and home renovation realms.

But with governments aggressively promoting green construction, and green building still an emerging practice, consumers who opt for more eco-friendly homes and renovations are vulnerable.

Some home and condo owners initially moved by green guilt to help save the planet now feel cheated and angry.

In downtown Toronto, residents of a four-unit boutique condominium are suing eco developer Greg Bonser for fraud. He promised a cutting-edge green development. What he did not advertise is that he would use unqualified workers, including an out-of-work special effects technician, to complete the project. Residents moved in, only to learn their units did not meet basic provincial building codes, the statement of claim alleges.

Families in Scarborough and Brighton are scrambling to fix expensive problems with their green dream homes. Inspection reports show the architect and contractors — who claimed to specialize in eco builds — failed to deliver. Read about their stories Sunday at thestar.com.

Meanwhile, Cooper is one of 26 homeowners across Ontario who claim Preston and his company — Max Air Environmental — secured more than $600,000 in deposits and payments for substandard work or no work at all.

When the Star found Preston, he said he folded his company and declared personal bankruptcy in part because he thought the industry “was more lucrative than it was.”

Geothermal, from the Greek, means heat from the earth. There are a few ways to capture this heat which involve burying a network of pipes in the ground or in a body of water.

Starting in June 2007, homeowners could get up to $10,000 in provincial and federal rebates for replacing their standard heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units with a geothermal system.

Trying to capitalize on demand for these rebates, Preston went to work.

(continued below)

He earned his “trained installer” certification from the Canadian Geo-Exchange Coalition — a federally funded industry group — by taking a multiple choice, open-book exam.

Three years ago, Air Canada pilot Gord Cooper and his wife, Lesya, purchased a sprawling fixer-upper in Richmond Hill. The home’s existing heating and air-conditioning systems were unreliable. The Coopers said Preston’s professionalism and “middle-of-the-road quote” sold them. “He told my wife she was going to be sweating with all the heat that’s coming off the geothermal,” Cooper said.

Subcontractors worked through the summer to drill 12 holes on the property — some as deep as 340 feet. Pipes filled with a water and alcohol mixture were to be dropped into these holes and fed into a compressor inside the house. The friction created by this conversion of liquid to gas is supposed to heat and cool the house as needed.

When Preston asked for an earlier-than-scheduled payment so he could settle with the hard-working drillers, the couple obliged with a $43,000 cheque.

“They worked in 32-degree heat with black smoke and exhaust,” Lesya says. “They earned that money.”

But a month later, the drillers called to say they were never paid — that Preston told them he never got the money.

Max Air customers never expected this could happen. They didn’t just believe in the green technology. They believed in Preston.

How many six-foot-three guys with linebacker proportions do you see cramming themselves into a fuel-efficient Smart Car? His was branded with the company’s logo — Max Air Environmental. The 52-year-old talked with customers about his family, telling them his business was named after his youngest son, a passionate Go-Kart racer, asked about theirs. He answered questions about geothermal technology with authority and patience. He was a back-patter who gave great handshake.

“He was a confidence man,” says an angry Dan Goliger, 65, a Milton resident who paid Preston $30,000 for a system he was told would pay for itself within seven years.

“Our payback, if we ever have any, will happen long after we’re gone.”

Before replacing his oil furnace, Goliger’s typical two-month winter electric bill shows, he and his wife used about 2,600 kilowatts of energy. “Right now, we’re using 12,000 kilowatts,” he says. “It’s horrible.”

Other Max Air customers have told the Star their utility bills have more than doubled since their geothermal units were installed. In many cases, the units were undersized and incapable of heating the home.

Flashing lights on Daniela Fiocca’s system prompted the Toronto woman to call in a geothermal specialist when she couldn’t reach Preston. She found out she didn’t get the system she thought she was buying. Her $40,000 contract with Max Air specified a top-of-the-line heat pump that would have met her home’s energy demands. But what she has is an inferior unit from a different manufacturer that barely covers half of her heating requirements. Also, the emergency back-up heating system she paid for was never connected.

“The stuff that (Preston) did was unbelievable,” says James Treadwell, a former Max Air employee who has started a new geothermal company with another former employee and Mike Preston’s son Chris.

“Mike was selling work for whatever price he could get from customers.”

Though it received complaints, the Canadian Geo-Exchange Coalition never disciplined Preston.

“All we could do was remove his name from the “Qualified Companies” portion of our website,” says coalition president Denis Tanguay. “I know he’s still working in the industry.”

The group uses the term “qualified company” to assure consumers that a company’s employees “had their credentials verified and offer the highest quality of workmanship and highest ethical standards.”

Nonetheless, Tanguay offers this bleak assessment of his industry: “Basically, anybody can install a system tomorrow morning and nobody will question it.”

Preston sold some customers on the expensive system by offering financing through a company called UEI Financial — a division of Union Energy. He said the arrangement would allow them to defer payments interest-free for six months, by which time the installation would be complete and their rebates would be in hand.

Frank Schwarze in King City, Ont., says UEI started deducting payments right away. He later learned UEI had received a “completion certificate” with his forged signature, which authorized full payment to Preston.

Schwarze is not the only Preston’s customer who alleges he forged their signatures on these documents that entitled him to the early release of $20,000 lump-sum payments.

Three years later, Schwarze told the Star he’s still making monthly disbursements to UEI, at nearly 20 per cent interest, to pay for a system that Preston never finished installing.

A UEI Financial spokesperson says the company terminated its relationship with Max Air in 2008 and “is working individually with affected homeowners to reach a satisfactory resolution.”

Preston declared personal bankruptcy last October. It was his second filing in 10 years. The father of three sold his luxury Oakville home with a swimming pool near Glen Abbey golf course for $930,000.

“I don’t want someone to have the wrong impression that I’m a crook,” Preston told the Star.

Responding to the forgery allegations, Preston says he takes full responsibility but didn’t know who signed the financial documents: “We had a big staff.”

Preston blames his problems on the economy’s collapse, and claims that financing he had secured from a private lender didn’t come through.

“This is a real sad story because our family lost our home because of this mess. We’ve always had a comfortable life and we don’t anymore.”

Two weeks after the initial interview, the Star tracked down Preston in one of Oakville’s toniest waterfront neighbourhoods. The four-bedroom house he rents for $4,200 a month is nestled among multi-million-dollar estates.

After folding Max Air, Preston started a new heating and air conditioning company, which he says is a “one-man show” called Fairway Mechanical. He told the Star he still sells geothermal “for a few companies” but no longer installs the systems himself.

(continued below)

Greg Bonser, a 32-year-old eco consultant and developer, made headlines across the city a few years ago with plans to build one of Toronto’s first green boutique condominiums.

Now magazine hailed his renovation of a heritage building on Queen St. E. as one of the city’s top environmentally sustainable places to live: “If only all old Toronto apartments were so green.” The Star touted him as a “green leader.”

His investors know otherwise. Bonser’s associates told the Star they did not have the expertise to deliver on a promised state-of-the-art green condo development.

Three months ago, suite owners filed a $900,000 lawsuit against Bonser, alleging fraud.

The statement of claim says Bonser, who did most of the general contracting himself, marketed the project as a “cutting-edge green building containing the latest environmentally friendly technology and features.”

Owners say they instead were duped, with the help of architect Ferdinand Wagner, into paying closing costs to Bonser before the condo was even declared structurally sound. The lawsuit also claims the building did not comply with the Ontario building code.

“Yes, there were deficiencies,” Bonser told the Star during an interview in his Riverdale storefront office, which he’s since sold. “There were mistakes made. That’s part of the process . . . They’re just litigious people.”

In a rambling, 12-minute interview that covered Catholic theology, working conditions at Swiss Chalet and the “spirit realm of dogs,” Bonser’s former employer Wagner, who signed the occupancy certificate and is named as a co-defendant, said he’s not worried about the lawsuit.

“My lawyer thinks it’s pretty silly,” says Wagner, 65, whose licence was suspended twice by the Ontario Association of Architects for professional misconduct.

Wagner says Bonser “underestimated the difficulty of what he was taking on. He’s not evil.”

One of the building’s key green features was supposed to be an energy-efficient geothermal system. The lawsuit alleges Bonser never retained a building permit for the system and that it wasn’t built to code.

Bonser, who graduated in architectural technology from George Brown College, says he “self-taught most of the green stuff.” He designed the geothermal system himself and hired an out-of-work special effects technician from the film industry to install it.

“I felt in over my head,” Trevor Briggs, Bonser’s geothermal installer, told the Star. “He was encouraging me to do it because I was a lot cheaper than going to a traditional HVAC company.”

For $15,000 and “sweat equity,” Briggs says, Bonser — who ran as a Green party candidate in the 2004 federal election and finished last in Scarborough Centre with 1,045 votes — promised him a percentage of the company.

“He told me they had a million in backing,” Briggs says. “I thought it was real money. He told me later it was a million in goodwill.”

Convinced of a post-construction payoff, Briggs says, he spent almost $30,000 of his own money on copper piping and other materials. Briggs says it became clear that Bonser had no intention of repaying him, and he sued. The two settled out of court last year.

Bonser told the Star he doesn’t have the money or the energy to fight the latest lawsuit.

“Five days after I bought this building, I got hit by a pesticide truck,” he says.

“For the last four-and-a-half, five years, I didn’t realize how out of it I was.”

Tomorrow: How renegade green architects and builders are leaving homeowners bitter and broke

Diana Zlomislic can be reached by email at dzlomislic@thestar.ca or phone at 416-869-4472

Wind energy manufacturing continued to grow in 2009, albeit at a slower pace than in 2008, according to the annual U.S. wind industry market report released in April by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). AWEA says that despite a slowdown in turbine manufacturing compared to 2008, 10 new manufacturing facilities came online last year, 20 were announced, and nine were expanded. The report also found that more than 10,000 megawatts of new wind power generating capacity was installed in 2009, which is enough to power the equivalent of 2.4 million homes. In state rankings, AWEA says that Iowa leads in percentage of electricity from wind power, with 14 percent of the state’s power derived from wind energy sources. Iowa also has the highest number of wind industry jobs in the private sector. More information is available online at www.awea.org.

***
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) web site features a free map tool that shows real-time photovoltaic (PV) panel installation activity in the United States from 1998 to 2009. The tool also provides access to a database including graphs and charts of the size, location, capacity and cost of the panels. Geographers in NREL’s data analysis and visualization group accept data uploads from utility companies, local and state governments and the public. Since going online last October, the project, called the Open PV project, has catalogued more than 67,000 PV systems with an approximate capacity of 785 megawatts. NREL reports that it is exploring the creation of additional open databases for wind, solar, hot water and geothermal installations. Learn more about the project at
openpv.nrel.gov.

***
On April 10 the Alaska Senate passed Senate Bill 220, the Alaska Sustainable Energy Act, an omnibus bill to stimulate the state’s economy by attracting investment in renewable energy. Sponsored by Sens. Bill Wielechowski and Lesil McGuire, the bill would set energy efficiency and renewable energy goals, dedicate state funds for renewable and alternative energy projects and testing, and establish a renewable energy tax credit of 15 percent of the retail rate for each kilowatt-hour of electricity produced from renewable sources. Upon adoption by the Senate, the bill was transferred to the House for consideration.

***
A group of 19 governors sent a letter to President Barack Obama in March urging expansion of the Section 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In January, $2.3 billion in tax credits was awarded to recipients in 43 states to support manufacturing energy projects. The governors report that these federal resources have leveraged more than $5.4 billion in private investment. In the letter, the governors discuss the success of the tax credit and describe the economic benefits that would come with an expansion. A copy of the letter, and more information about the Section 48C tax credit, can be found online at www.energytaxcredits.com.

***
In early March, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell announced the introduction of the Clean Energy Jobs Act, legislation that calls for the potential installation of approximately 300 megawatts of new solar PV systems by 2029. Markell says the bill could lead to the installation of more than 1000 megawatts of utility-scale generation in the form of offshore wind power, which would result in the creation of 1,000 construction jobs and 150 long-term operation and maintenance jobs by 2029. The bill proposes a market-based method for financing renewable energy projects under the state’s Green Energy Fund. Supporters say this would resolve the long wait time and inadequate overall funding for the current grant program. A fact sheet about the Clean Energy Jobs Act is available at governor.delaware.gov.

***
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., introduced legislation in March that would offer a tax credit for homeowners who invest in community solar projects. Senate Bill 3137, or the Solar Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Act of 2010, would expand the tax code to enable taxpayers to claim federal solar investment tax credits (ITCs) when purchasing a share of a community solar project. The current tax code requires solar panels to be installed on the taxpayer’s actual residence. A copy of the bill is available online at www.energytaxcredits.com.

The Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits offers news, opinions and features about affordable housing, community development and renewable energy tax credit industries. The complete version is available by paid subscription only. Click here for more information on receiving a monthly print subscription.

Encourage your friends and associates to subscribe to Novogradac & Company LLP’s Industry Alerts, including the Journal of Tax Credits e-mail edition, by sending an e-mail to cpas@novoco.com.

Copyright 2010 • By Novogradac & Company LLP • All Rights Reserved