Apartments to Provide Own Power
With its wall of fins, abstract patterns and varying surfaces and colors, Colorado Court in Santa Monica is shaping up to be a real head-turner.
But the apartment complex is no mere exercise in style over substance. What makes the project groundbreaking in power-starved California is that it will generate nearly all its own energy: electricity, heat and hot water, all from alternative technologies.
The 44-unit complex at 5th Street and Colorado Avenue, scheduled to open in October, will be adorned with 199 solar panels, which will supply about a third of the building’s electricity. The rest of the power will come primarily from a micro-turbine, a generator that runs on clean-burning natural gas. Southern California Edison will supply only a fraction of the building’s energy needs.
“Colorado Court is unique because the building will produce 92% of its own power, which is very significant,” said Bob Johnson, managing director of California Energy Coalition, a nonprofit energy conservation group based in Laguna Beach. In comparison, solar power sources for a proposed single-family subdivision in Placer County would supply 30% to 50% of household energy needs.
Intended as “single-room occupancy” housing for low-income renters, the $5.8-million Santa Monica project has become a closely watched test case of still-experimental electricity generation equipment.
Though not outlandish, the Colorado Court building probably will make many driving down 5th Street look twice: Framed inside a rectangular shell of light-colored plaster and concrete is a giant window of dark glass; the “window” is an assemblage of many solar panels. The rear of the building is covered in an abstract pattern of vertical fins; the fins shade the building’s southern face from direct sunlight.
Sensible Concept for Low-Income Tenants
Although some may be surprised that a building intended for low-income residents is the beneficiary of expensive energy technology, the concept makes sense for people with limited incomes, said Robin Raida, project manager for the builder, Community Corp. of Santa Monica. Energy efficiency is “especially important in affordable housing, because our tenants don’t have extra money to spend on high utility bills,” she said.
A host of public and private entities--including the cities of Santa Monica and Irvine, Southern California Edison and the California Energy Coalition--are involved in planning, funding and monitoring the innovative building. The two cities, the conservation group and the utility have formed a group known as Regional Energy Efficiency Initiative, which has contributed about $250,000 to energy-saving devices in the building. In addition, Santa Monica itself is contributing about $250,000 toward electricity generators.
The building will be loaded with energy-saving and environmentally benign or “sustainable” devices. Heat from the micro-turbine will produce hot water, eliminating the need for a conventional water heater.
The project also uses compact fluorescent lighting throughout the building, insulation made from recycled material and double-pane windows with a layer of heat-retardant krypton gas. Each apartment will be equipped with energy-saving refrigerators that do not use chlorofluorocarbons, the widely used refrigerant linked to damage in the Earth’s ozone layer.
Prevailing breezes will cool the building, which will have no mechanical air conditioners. The U-shaped structure “acts like a giant wind scoop,” said architect Larry Scarpa, a principal of Santa Monica-based Pugh & Scarpa.
In yet another “green” flourish, the building will collect all the rainwater from the alley behind the property and funnel it into a series of underground chambers. The water will slowly percolate back into the soil, which will filter the pollutants from the water while preventing contaminated water from spilling into Santa Monica Bay. The drainage system was paid for separately by the city of Santa Monica.
The concept of a building that would be energy self-sufficient emerged about two years ago, when Santa Monica officials met with members of the California Energy Coalition. The city’s Housing Division, which funds construction of low-income housing, chose to make a low-income housing project into a dream project of “green” construction, and Colorado Court became the target.
“We needed a demonstration project because a lot of developers feel that the technologies are unproven,” Raida said.
A number of apartment buildings in Santa Monica and Irvine are to be equipped with energy-saving technology by the Regional Energy Efficiency Initiative, but the Santa Monica building is the only project attempting to provide its own power as well.
Rebates from the state Energy Commission helped defray the high cost of the energy-generating equipment. The state’s rebate on the solar panels, which cost about $225,000, will be about $62,000. The $57,000 micro-turbine and heat exchanger will yield a $15,000 rebate from Southern California Gas Co.
If recent research and development has yielded new ways of conserving energy and producing electricity, regulations and building codes have not kept pace.
Prospects Uncertain for Conventional Buildings
In one instance, architects had to obtain special permission from the city to hang solar panels outside the exterior stairwells because building inspectors said the solar panels “enclosed” the stairwells and triggered requirements for floors, ceilings and fire-rated walls.
If energy-saving devices and electrical generators make sense for a building that has $500,000 in subsidies, do the same costly materials make sense for a conventional apartment building? Opinions vary.
Even with rebates, the added cost of the conservation and energy-generating equipment may be a hard sell for developers of market-rate apartment units. Such developers often sell their projects shortly after completion and might not be able to fetch a higher price for energy-efficient buildings.
For a nonprofit like Community Corp., which plans to retain ownership of its buildings for 80 years, the added front-end cost could be worthwhile because the equipment will hold down energy costs for low-income tenants for years.
