Escalante Meadows Achieves GreenPoint Rated Gold Certification

In Balance Green Consulting is very excited to announce that the Escalante Meadows community has achieved GreenPoint Rated Gold Certification! In Balance worked alongside the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara (HASBARCO), GreenPoint Rater, Josh Gardner, Arris Studio, and Ashwood Construction on GreenPoint Rated, Title 24 compliance and energy optimization, and Commissioning.

The recently completed multifamily housing development in Guadalupe consists of 10 residential buildings that house 80 affordable housing units of 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-bedroom apartments and a two-story community center. The almost 9-acre site includes many amenities such as playgrounds, a basketball court, barbecue and picnic area, and community garden space.

The community center is unique in that it serves not just the residents, but provides excellent resources for the larger community, including computer labs, a wellness clinic, offices, an all-electric commercial kitchen and gathering space, a children’s center with classrooms and a play area, and more.

The project team prioritized pursuing an all-electric design very early in the design process. Not only was the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also to eliminate combustion through the burning of fossil fuels, which improves indoor air quality for residents, creating a healthier indoor environment. Each residential unit utilizes heat pumps for space conditioning, an integrated heat pump water heater, and ENERGY STAR appliances. The water heater and outdoor heat pump unit are located outside on each residential unit’s balcony area as seen above, with the water heater in an outdoor closet.

The extensive PV system consists of photovoltaic modules spread across 11 parking carports and a few of the buildings’ roof areas. The system is estimated to produce approximately 444,875 kWh of electricity per year, offsetting almost 80% of the project’s total estimated electricity usage for all residential buildings and the community building.

In Balance also provided Commissioning services for the residential and community buildings, commissioning the HVAC, water heating, lighting, and landscape irrigation systems. This ensures the systems are functioning properly and allows for corrections to be made to optimize performance.

Going forward, all new multifamily housing projects pursuing GreenPoint Rated are required to be all-electric. The Escalante Meadows project is an excellent example of what a high performing, all-electric multifamily housing community can look like, which is reflected in the GreenPoint Rated Gold certification. Congratulations to the team on certification!

EV Charging Stations and ADA

In 2017, we wrote a blog post about the ‘new’ overlap of EV charging stations and accessibility requirements. A few years have passed (!) and we thought a quick update would be helpful.

How Many?

CALGreen mandatory measures require EV charging stations based on the number of regular parking spaces. Note that although CALGreen also has requirements for “EV Capable” spaces (conduit but no charging equipment), access compliance is triggered when charging equipment is installed. Although we sometimes shorthand access compliance requirements as “ADA”, (Americans with Disabilities Act), in California we are also referring to the California Building Code (CBC) Chapter 11B. This code section applies to public buildings, commercial buildings, and public housing. We’ll touch on Chapter 11A and private multi-family housing below.

Once you know the number of charging stations required, then CBC Chapter 11B notes how many must be accessible. In the following chart, we meld the two to summarize the quantity of each:

*If you are providing more than 25 EV charging stations, be sure to consult the Access Compliance Reference Manual for additional requirements.

Of course, the chargers themselves must be accessible, including the reach height, operable parts, etc.

Size and Dimensions

The key point is that even if you only have one EV charging space, whether as required by code or elective, that first space must be van accessible, meaning 12’ wide and 18’ long, with a 5’-wide access aisle.  The 2nd, 3rd and 4th stations do not need to be accessible, but a fifth station would need to be standard accessible, meaning 9’ wide and adjacent to the access aisle.  Those spaces do not serve as your Accessible Parking Spaces, and should not be labeled as such.  Accessible charging spaces do need a path of travel to the building.  The following diagram is provided in CBC Chapter 11B.

There are alternate layouts, such as locating the charging station at the top of the access aisle to be shared by two parking spaces, with the Path of travel behind each vehicles. 

There are plenty more details in the code section, so be sure to check out CBC 11B-228 and 11B-812.

What about Multi-family Housing?

Accessibility for EV parking spaces for private multi-family housing is covered under CALGreen. CBC Chapter 11A Housing Accessibility does not directly address accessible EVCS requirements, so those requirements have been added to CALGreen and are similar to the CBC Chapter 11B listed above.

For Multifamily development projects of 20 dwelling units or more (4.106.4.2.2), 5% of the total provided parking spaces must have EV Charging Stations (EVCS). Again, EV Capable and EV Ready spaces are also called out in CALGreen, but accessibility is triggered when charging equipment is actually installed.

For those spaces with EVCS, 1 in every 25 spaces must be van accessible, with an 18’ x 9’ space, 8’-wide access aisle, a path of travel, etc. Same as the CBC, a van accessible space may also be accommodated with a 12’-wide parking space and 5’-wide aisle, depending on your preferred lay-out.

Note that Chapter 11A still addresses distribution of accessible spaces in a multi-family housing project and other details which apply to EVCS, so both codes apply.

Plan Ahead

Although EV Capable and EV Ready spaces do not have charging equipment so do not trigger access compliance, the intent is to make adding EVCS easy in the future, so best to plan ahead for easy addition of signage or potential re-striping to accommodate van parking and path of travel.

All-Electric Remodel Construction Site Tour - February 11

Do you love visiting construction sites? We do too! So we’ve partnered with 3C-REN to offer tours of high performance, all-electric projects on the Central Coast.  The first will be in San Luis Obispo on February 11 at 3:30pm, visiting a major residential remodel. The builder, Mike Horgan of Cairn Collaborative, will lead us through the energy efficiency and electrification upgrades, providing first-hand information on implementation, lessons learned and best practices.

Topics covered include:

• Installation requirements and options for heat pump mechanical systems.

• Observe an installed heat pump hot water system and learn the space and location requirements and potential pitfalls to avoid.

• Discuss ventilation and indoor air quality and different options appropriate for retrofits versus new construction.

• Review wall, floor and roof assemblies for both insulation and air sealing best practices.

Project location will be provided to registered participants. To register for this free program, go to the 3C-REN calendar page HERE.

Stay tuned for tours in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Have a project you would like to include on a tour? Let us know!

All-Electric Multifamily Housing Project Pismo Terrace is Open!

In Balance is excited to share that the all-electric multifamily housing project, Pismo Terrace, is complete and open! The project in Pismo Beach is comprised of two three-story buildings with 50 affordable housing units and amenities such as a community room, commercial kitchen, laundry, playground, and bike racks.

In Balance Green Consulting worked with architect, Ravatt Albrecht & Associates, and contractor/developer, People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH), on energy optimization, photovoltaic (PV) sizing, and other sustainability consulting.

The team decided early in the design process to go all-electric and implement features targeting energy efficiency to reduce overall energy consumption. The project incorporates electric heat pump space heating, heat pump water heating, and electric ranges, eliminating the need for gas infrastructure. This saved money as there was no need to place gas meters, nor run gas piping throughout the building.

Quality insulation installation (QII) and a high-performance roof with R-32 cavity fill insulation and continuous R-5 roof insulation reduce heat transfer that would cause higher energy use. The PV system was designed to generate 133,696 kWh of electricity per year, offsetting 65% of the predicted annual residential energy use.

In Balance is excited to see more of our multifamily housing projects going all-electric and prioritizing sustainable measures to contribute to healthier and more comfortable homes. As California’s energy grid becomes cleaner, going all-electric and eliminating fossil fuels from our buildings continues California’s progress to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Congratulations to the team!

Have an all-electric project you are working on, contact us!