Page 18 - Green Builder September-October 2018 Issue

Flame guard. As a safeguard against
wildfires, Alliance Green Builders crafted a
home that includes stucco and concrete Annual Building Science Report 2019 EFFICIENCY MATTERS
walls, stone and tile ground covering,
metal roofing and high-impact windows.

COURTESY OF ALLIANCE GREEN BUILDERS

through the multi-day power outages that often accompany wild‡re
A Real Fire such as stucco and concrete walls, stone and tile ground covering,
season in the Southern California hills.
“Casa Aguila” includes ‡re- and power outage-resistant features

metal roo‡ng and posts, high-impact windows, energy-eŒcient
construction, on-site wind and solar power generation and storage,
Fighter and on-site water collection and recycling systems. For energy
eŒciency, Alliance Green Builders certi‡ed the home to the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) criteria
(see page ‹™).
Casa Aquila defies wildfires with This uber-efficient home also achieved a LEED platinum
resilient systems. certi‡cation from the U.S. Green Building Council and was the ‡rst
home in San Diego County to be certi‡ed by the Passive House
Institute U.S. In its pursuit of water and energy self-suŒciency, the
BY GREEN BUILDER STAFF
project team received the county’s ‡rst on-site wastewater treatment
HE ELEGANT SINGLESTORY stucco-and-glass house permit. They also designed a rainwater collection system to supply
atop a hill above Ramona, Calif.’s San Pasqual Valley all indoor water uses. With the solar PV tracking system, solar
may not look very castle-like, but the home was built thermal water heating, ›™-foot wind turbine and battery storage, the
with a host of features that make it a veritable fortress homeowners are well on their way to achieving grid independence.
T against wildfires, the common enemy of Southern
California homeowners. START WITH THE SHELL
When the Witch Creek ‡re took their previous home in ˆ‰‰Š, Even with large solar capacity, energy self-suŒciency would be hard
along with ‹,‰‰‰ other homes in the neighborhood, the owners were to achieve without ‡rst constructing a very energy-eŒcient shell. For
determined that one day they would build a home that could resist this, the builder turned to the DOE ZERH program.
the ‡res, and have the energy and water self-suŒciency to hold out The builders exceeded code insulation requirements with double

16 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2018 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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