The Time Is Now for the All-Electric Home

I grew up in the 70’s with heroes like Ranger Rick and Woodsy Owl, warm, fuzzy, anthropomorphized critters making a stand for the future of our planet. Decades later it’s hard for me to understand how we got so off track. What ever happened to environmentalism? I suppose big money got in the way. Well, with a devastating war waging halfway around the world, and skyrocketing gas prices underscoring our decade’s long reliance on foreign oil, maybe it’s time we began solving these problems once and for all. Conveniently, the problems of energy independence and environmental sustainability can be solved with many of the same technologies. Enter the all-electric home.

Electric Appliances 

In recent years, municipalities throughout California have been mandating all-electric cooking in new commercial facilities and all-electric heating in new homes. A number of now mature technologies have made the all-electric home not only more feasible, but also more convenient, comfortable and attractive than ever.

Modern appliances like electric induction cooktops offer much more control than gas stovetops and eliminate the need for natural gas or propane. So long as you stick to your guns and don’t add in gas or propane elsewhere into your home, you can run strictly on electricity. Eliminating an entire energy system from your home can save you money in the form of both construction cost and lifecycle energy cost. Induction technology is green, easy to clean. An all-glass cooktop is also super attractive. This, among other technologies, will help you run your new home on 100% electric power. 

I understand the reluctance among many to give up cooking with gas. However, as a professionally-trained chef, I have come to love induction cooking. Once you’re over the learning curve, you’ll never go back to gas.

Hybrid Solar Power

The all-electric home can be powered by the grid or by your own solar power system. When designing and building a custom home in California, it makes sense to look to the sun's rays to power your entire house. 

Hybrid solar power (PVT) is a blend of a traditional solar power (PV) installation and solar thermal. This approach extracts power from the sun in two ways at once. The PV portion of the system uses photovoltaic panels to create DC power, which is then converted to AC power via an inverter in your home. This power can be used immediately or stored in batteries like Tesla’s PowerWall.

Solar thermal relies on the sun’s radiation to heat water-filled pipes that run in the warm space between your roof and the PV panels above. Once heated, this water can then be used to either heat your home or for bathing and cleaning. This system is ideal for heating radiant flooring systems, by far the gold standard in home thermal comfort.

Battery Back-up… or Maybe a New Truck

Californians are well aware that during fire season, the electrical grid is often shut off by the utilities due to the risk of wildfire brought on by dry conditions and high winds. Having battery backup in these situations can mean the difference between fresh food and lights or days of darkness and a refrigerator filled with spoiling food. This is where battery backup comes in.

Tesla makes a device called the Powerwall. This wall-hung battery system stores up to 13 kWh of electricity, enough power to run the average house for between 3-5 days, depending on your usage and whether you’re replenishing the system with solar PV.

The New Ford F-150 Lighting, All-Electric Pickup Truck

Then there’s the new Ford F-150 lighting, Ford’s new super cool, all-electric pickup truck. While they’re currently on backorder, this truck has the battery storage equivalent of more than 7 Tesla Powerwalls. That’s a lot of backup power. And at about $40K, the Ford, which comes with a 98 kWh battery pack, costs less than a Powerwall on a dollars per kWh basis. I did the math and while a discounted (when you buy 4 or more) Tesla Powerwall costs $577 per kWh, the Ford costs $408 per kWh… plus you can drive it. A little more math and we learn that the Ford could power your home for up to a month!

This comparison alone begins to underscore the “power” and flexibility of going all-electric.

Power Smarter, Not Harder

If going all-electric is the first step, then being efficient about how one uses that power is next. From hyper-efficient mechanical systems that keep your home warm or cool, depending on the season, to illuminating spaces for optimum utility and user-experience, there are a number of technologies that deliver on both efficiency and comfort.

One of the most significant ways that homes of the future can be made to run more efficiently is by improving the home’s climate control systems. By eliminating the need for gas, propane, and heating oil, and reducing the amount of electricity required for comfort, I believe these two solutions will one day be commonplace in every home.

They Call an Air-To-Water Heat Pump. I Call It Pure Magic.

This technology is somewhat of a miracle in my opinion. Air-to-water pumps extract "free" heat from the air, even in relatively cool environments. (Anything above “absolute zero” or zero degrees Kelvin, is heat.) In these systems, heat from the air is transmitted to a liquid coolant via a heat exchanger and is then carried through to the home's hot water system. 

Thanks to some very clever principals of physics, these pumps produce more energy than they consume. These pumps take advantage of the free power of the sun to heat your water – a sustainable home must-have if you ask me. Check out our use of this technology in the Berkeley Home project to learn more. 

Modular Radiant Floors, the All-Clad of Flooring

Happiness is a warm floor. There, I’ve said it. Happiness is walking barefoot through the house on a chilly day without getting cold toes. Radiant floor heating is by far the most pleasant way to heat your home. It's silent, efficient, cost-effective, powerful, and clean.  

Back in the day, radiant floors were a great idea who’s day had not yet arrived. Copper pipes cast into concrete slabs were the norm but these systems were very prone to failure. When (not if) the slab cracked and a pipe failed, your entire system went down, often serious bringing water damage with it. Repairing these systems was costly and rarely constituted a permanent fix.

Our All-Electric, Zero-Energy Home in Berkeley, CA

The modern version of the radiant floor is an entirely different story. These elegant systems run warm water through flexible PEX tubing. This tubing is pressed into groves which have been factory cut into a clever, puzzle piece-like plywood subfloor panel. These panels are lined with aluminum sheet metal in order to increase thermal conductivity. This means the heat radiates into your home instead of the foundation, creating a more efficient and clean transfer of heat from the floor into your whole house. I think of this system, made by Warmboard, as the All-Clad (professional aluminum core cookware) of floor systems. Using a system like this increase the performance of your radiant floor, speeds up installation, and works well under any flooring material. 

Natural Light + LED = A Bright & Efficient Future

Whether you’re running your all-electric home off the grid, your Tesla Powerwall, or your Ford F-150 Lighting, efficiency is key.

When it comes to lighting your home, architectural design can maximize the use of natural light throughout the home. When siting a new home, I look at the exposure and opportunities to bring in natural light as effectively as possible. From clearstory windows that bring in soft light through the day to a dramatic wall of glass that welcomes the sunrise, architectural design should include thoughtful placement of windows, for light, views, and functionality.

Where artificial light is needed, it's no secret that LED lighting has already proven to be both energy- and cost-efficient. At Parco Studio, we look to use LED lighting to its full potential in the homes we design. 

Due to its compact for factor, LED lighting offers a stunning array of architectural placements. This opens up a wide range of creative lighting options never before available to the designer, ways in which to seamlessly integrate lighting into the architectural DNA of your project. Whether being used for bright task lighting, a subtle ambient glow, or to spotlight your art collection, LED lighting systems now give you the focus, control, and efficiency previously only available in museum, film, and theater settings.

And LED lighting means no more replacing light bulbs. Most LED “bulbs” will last for up to a decade or more, so long as they’re kept from overheating through proper ventilation.

That’s just the start of going all electric

Of course, there’s much more to consider and work with, whether you are looking to renovate and transform your existing home or starting from scratch to design your new all-electric home of the future. Maybe the best time to do that was before legislation and supply issues forced the change, but, as the Chinese proverb says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Now truly is the best time to get started on your all-electric home.

If that's something that you or someone you know is seriously considering exploring, we would be happy to discuss the possibilities. Let’s talk!