Posts filed under 'Prototype Home (Emeryville)'
The energy system design for the Simpatico Prototype Home qualifies it as a Net Zero Energy residence. Simply put, a Net Zero Energy home is one that produces as much energy as it consumes. This means that the Prototype will be self-sufficient with its electric, hot water and space heating needs. (This system has the added bonus of eliminating any need for natural gas in the home, highlighted in the posting An Introduction to Induction.)
The Net Zero Energy goal will be accomplished by combining 30 solar panels on the roof with a high-efficiency electric heat pump, passive solar architecture, and extremely efficient fixtures and appliances. This system will allow the home to “sell back” excess energy it generates during sunny days and to purchase energy like any other home during nights and cloudy days. Over the course of a year, the power bills should achieve a net zero energy equilibrium.
With rapidly declining solar install costs and aggressive federal and state credits/rebates, the projected payback on this system is only 3-1/2 years. To learn more about how this Net Zero Energy system works, please visit our design partners at www.NetZeroEnergyCertified.com.
January 25th, 2010
Want to know how to cook faster, using less energy, with more control? Try cooking with magnetic induction, a process that bypasses heating the cooktop surface and goes right to heating the pot. The Net Zero Energy design for the Prototype Home presented us with an interesting dilemma– keep a gas line in the home only to run a gas cooktop or eliminate gas completely and embrace an alternative method?
Magnetic induction cooking uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that sends currents into iron atoms that react by movement which causes friction and heat in a metal vessel. The electro-magnetic elements are housed under a ceramic-glass surface.
Unlike conventional cooktops that create heat below a pot, the magnetic induction process makes the pot into the heating element. Food is heated more quickly and to precise temperatures. Because they are not directly heated, cooking surfaces cool more quickly eliminating the potential of injury from unknowingly coming in contact with a hot surface. Cooking with magnetic induction is also 90 percent efficient, as compared to resistance electric at approximately 65-percent efficiency, and open-flamed gas which measures in the 55-percent efficiency range.
The simple act of boiling water will never be the same!
December 15th, 2009
Check out the nice press we received about the Prototype Home on Jetson Green. Jetson Green is a daily updated magazine that’s obsessed with green building and everything related to it, including sustainable architecture, good design, green prefab, clean technology in the built environment, affordable housing, and eco-friendly development.
June 5th, 2009
One of our favorite spots in Emeryville is the Community Ogranic Garden. Nestled along the greenway and between warehouses and businesses is a pie shaped slice of well-cared-for land. We often take a break from the Prototype site or the Swatt Architects office (each just a couple blocks away) to check out the varied garden plots. Its open to the public and is one of those hidden gems in a city known better for its traffic and its retail stores. This garden–the former 
home of Big Daddy’s Complete Rejuvenating Auto Detailing Shop–is a living example of what a community can do to turn an underutilized former industrial site into a thriving garden for its residents. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by the garden, located at 59th Street and Doyle.
November 5th, 2008
When it came time to select materials for Simpatico Homes, tiles from Heath Ceramics from Sausalito were a natural fit. Of course we were attracted to Heath’s inviting colors and timeless mid-century designs. But a bigger part of the story for us was to source our materials locally and to support the work of local artisans. You may already be familiar with their tiles and tableware (many of the Bay Area’s best restaurants serve on Heath), but if not, be sure to check out the Heath Ceramics website. Then stop by the Prototype Home later this summer to admire our Heath tile kitchen back splash.
And yes, that is a Heath mug on the homepage of the Simpatico Homes website.
October 23rd, 2008
Mostly we were excited to participate in something that has such an important-sounding French name.
So what do a LEED professional, an architect, a landscape architect, a contractor, a modular factory, a mechanical engineer and a structural engineer have in common? They all spent a long day in a workshop aimed at making one home a little bit greener. Much to our surprise, after the initial calculations in the charrette, the prototype home is on track to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. Looks like that team of professionals is pretty good at what they do.
Stay tuned for more on some of the features that make the Simpatico Homes unique.
September 16th, 2008
Simpatico Homes is excited to announce it will be featuring the innovative Rainwater HOG rainwater harvesting system in the Prototype Home. And in the spirit of recycling, Simpatico Homes will be reusing HOGs that will have their first use at the Slow Food Nation festival at Fort Mason this Labor Day weekend. (so, our HOGs will have excellent taste.)
A rainwater catchment system is a simple and inexpensive way to capture the water that would otherwise just run off your roof and down the storm drain system. By installing a catchment system, rainwater from the your roof is stored until you need to water your yard. So not only does it save precious water, but it saves you money too. The innovative Rainwater HOG modular system makes it easy to fit rainwater storage in tight spaces (especially helpful on a postage stamp urban lot like the Prototype’s in Emeryville).
Or maybe we just thought a modular rainwater system was too hard for a modular homebuilding company to pass up.
August 13th, 2008
Not since our college applications has there been so much excitement in opening our mail. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes program is the most prestigous and stringent green rating system in the Country. And within the LEED program, the Simpatico Prototype Home is seeking its highest “Platinum” designation. With fewer than 150 LEED Platinum residential structures in the nation, that would put it in very elite company. And the best part about our home, is that it can also be your home.
August 8th, 2008
The kitchen and powder room of the Prototype Simpatico Home will feature Concretworks countertops. We are excited to work with such accomplished, local artisans who specialize in craft of concrete. Their custom work includes count
ertops, sinks, furniture and artwork, and we are pleased to be able to add prefab housing to their list of clients. We are also please that Concreteworks is developing a line of countertops and sinks exclusively for the Simpatico Homes.
July 10th, 2008
The design for the Prototype Simpatico Home was unanimously approved by the Emeryville Planning Commission tonight. As the first prefabricated home in Emeryville, we weren’t sure what the reception would be. The innovative design from hometown Swatt Architects received numerous accolades from the public and was approved in a 7-0 vote by the Commission. The takeaway?? It pays to be prepared. Oh, and apparently people like green homes!
February 28th, 2008
The energy system design for the Simpatico Prototype Home qualifies it as a Net Zero Energy residence. Simply put, a Net Zero Energy home is one that produces as much energy as it consumes. This means that the Prototype will be self-sufficient with its electric, hot water and space heating needs. (This system has the added bonus of eliminating any need for natural gas in the home, highlighted in the posting An Introduction to Induction.)