It’s so easy being green

Published 9:00 pm Friday, March 18, 2005

At the Chao family beach house in Langley, two flat solar panels mounted in the yard and tipped toward the sky give passers-by a hint of the dozens of “green” features inside.

But unless you know where to look, most of the environmentally friendly elements are hidden.

Photo Gallery Deb Asplund of Vision Works specializes in designing small custom home… [ view gallery ]

The intricate systems that filter the air and heat the floor of the home are invisible.

The underground cistern that stores rain is out of sight.

The wood harvested from a sustainable forest forms a wall like any other.

And the specially coated windows that keep more heat in don’t draw attention.

“For the mainstream person, this house is about as green as you can get,” said Deb Asplund of Vision Works, the Freeland designer who drew up the plans for this Whidbey Island home.

Tom Rentz of Sun/Wind Concepts and Chris Herman of Winter Sun Design provided the technical design.

The thoughtful design shows green homes can be kind to the environment – and on the eyes.

It used to be that houses that were good for the environment stuck out like a sore thumb.

Solar homes in particular have a reputation for “slopey, funky roofs,” Asplund said. She avoided that look by mounting the solar panels at the side of the yard.

Asplund, a self-described tree-hugger, specializes in designing smaller custom homes in South Whidbey.

She’s distressed by the increase of the 6,000-square-foot “megamansions” she sees popping up on the island.

“It’s gross for me; I don’t like it,” she said of the houses, which she thinks waste space and resources.

The Chao house is 2,000 square feet but feels larger because of plenty of light and a floor design Asplund described as circular. It’s easy to move from one part of the house to another. Many rooms have more than one door and a center atrium has doors on every wall.

“I don’t like rooms to dead end,” Asplund said.

She made space where people use it: The living room is large and open and merges into a spacious kitchen. Rooms that serve utilitarian functions, such as the home’s three bathrooms, are smaller.

“There’s more room for the places you spend your time,” she said.

A large center room with vaulted ceilings anchors the home. Asplund envisioned this room as an atrium overflowing with plants and a water feature. The owners prefer to use it as a dinning room. That’s OK – most of the rooms are designed to serve a number of functions.

The original owners designated two of the rooms as offices. The current owners, a Seattle family with three small children, chose to use one of those offices as a bedroom. That’s easy to do because the designer left enough space for a closet if the family decides they need one.

Light fills the center of this home from two skylights at the top of the atrium and expands outward. The room’s high ceilings serve a functional purpose too. In the heat of the summer, the doors to the atrium can be opened and fans will move a gently breeze through the home.

She cleverly designed the house so that its working parts are hidden.

Behind what looks like wood cabinetry in the living room is the manifold that controls the in-floor heating system. It’s easily accessible but attractively hidden behind cabinet doors.

The peaked roof allows space for an air-filtration system. Hidden in the attic, the system pulls in steamy air from the bathrooms, cleans it and releases clean air and the heat throughout the house.

The photovoltaic panels create energy and have the potential to put money back into the owners’ pockets.

From the solar collectors, the power runs under the ground though a conduit to a mechanical room the size of a closet.

Inside the room the power flows into a white box that converts the energy from direct current into alternating current, the type of energy used inside.

There is no storage battery. The family uses the energy they need and the rest feeds directly into the power grid. It’s as if the family has their very own power plant, Asplund said.

The power company is obliged to buy the energy the family doesn’t use. Theoretically, they should earn enough to pay for the solar power collectors. How long it takes to pay for the panels varies depending on the price of energy and how much power the family uses.

The first owners paid about $18,000 for the entire solar system and Asplund estimates it could take from 10 to 12 years to recoup that cost

Owner Janna Chao said the family would probably have to add more solar panels to make up the difference. The home’s energy consumption was based on two people and she and her husband, Jackson Chao, have three children.

The family uses the house as a vacation home, visiting often in the summer. After examining their July power bill, she found the solar panels created about as much energy as they used. But the family lost money on the deal because Puget Sound Energy pays them wholesale prices for the energy they create but sells them energy at higher retail prices. The family has to pay for power it uses at night when the solar panels aren’t creating power.

The family tries to run appliances during the day but Chao says her night-owl husband runs lights and electronics well into the night.

Still, the Chaos appreciate the efficiency of their home because efficiency means saving money.

And Janna Chao, who said she suffers from “major allergy problems,” appreciates the filtered air in the home.

This house has plenty of other green features too, including a low-water landscape fed by a water catchment system. Rainwater drains down the roof, through down spouts into an underground cistern.

Asplund designed one ingenious feature into the house that the owners hope to implement in the future.

Clear windows along one side of the home were intended to filter solar energy into giant water filled tubes.

The sun would have heated the water in the tubes, holding in heat and warming an adjacent hallway. Anyone wandering to the bathroom late at night would be warmed by passive solar heat.

There are all kind of practical touches that make this house a joy to inhabit including built-in bookcases and cabinetry, high countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms and a phone center near the kitchen.

In the kitchen there are no cabinets below the counter. Everything is stored in deep drawers, making it easier to reach what’s in the back and easier on the back.

Asplund created a hidden nook on the exterior of the garage for the recycle bin and a garden closet.

There’s built-in seating next to the front door, creating a comfortable spot to slip off one’s shoes – another bit of comfort in this green and people friendly home.

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.