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ECO-HOME™ MEMBER OPEN HOUSE 1329 South 8th Avenue, Arcadia, California Eco-Home™ Members Free • Guests $5 per person
download the abberviated article in flyer format (Acrobat pdf file) "I've designed this house not just for myself and my family—but for the earth." —Ed Huang, owner/builder Eco-Home™ Network is honored to have been invited to visit an “eco-star” rising in Arcadia, in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, that is a showcase of imaginative resource- conserving design techniques and high-tech "green" technology, infused with the architectural wisdom of the ages. Owner/architect/builder, Dr. Edward Huang, a Senior Planner with the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and a former Planning Commissioner with the City of Arcadia, explained that he designed his family’s new two-story 5,200 square foot house to be more than a home. "Striving for a demonstrative green building, my house incorporates various conventional and advanced building systems and products, and possesses several unique innovations with general applicability," Ed Huang says of his environmental dream house. Viewed from the street, Huang’s paragon of green building appears to be an elegant example of traditional Mediterranean-style architecture complimented by a gracious, centuries old oak tree located on the northerly property line. While the oak is at the edge of the property and not be able to shade the new house in the summer, Ed and his wife, Caroline, a real estate broker, recognize the oak as the most significant natural resource on the site and the need for integrating the oak with the new house. They have created an innovative design to honor, preserve and appreciate the venerable tree.
A fence made of bamboo along the property line were restored, and additional bamboo, saved from other construction sites, have been planted in both courts to further cool the spaces and release oxygen to the house. Huang's emphasis on natural ventilation -- and the complementary designed-in To enhance the natural ventilation and at the same time minimize western exposure to the sun, the rear facade of house, facing west, features a "staggered" recession from northwest. The recession provides not only "wind walls" to capture the northwesterly prevailing breeze but also vertical shading from the afternoon sun.
Mechanical ventilation is also used to supplement the natural ventilation. A centrally located GAF whole-house fan, above the two-story family room, the home's largest interior space, draws cooler exterior air through lower windows and replaces warmer air both in living areas and the attics. In addition, energy efficient reversible ceiling fans are installed in all activity areas and bedrooms. The attics are further ventilated by plenty of block vents at eaves, clay pipe vents at gables, Award Metals’ Stealth low-profile roof vents and ridge vents--a new, unique and effective venting product specially made for tile ridges. The house is built with a large area of cathedral ceilings without attics, and a unique venting system is designed to allow the free flow of warm air in the shallow space between rafters, which is typically filled with fiberglass insulation. Owens Corning’s Raft-R-Mate rafter vents are installed at all cathedral ceilings to secure 1” airspace for ventilation between eave and ridge vents. Use of this form baffle and Monier Lifetile’s Figaroll ridge vents, an air permeable yet watertight cloth, over specially made openings along roof ridges is a unique innovation to exhaust heat in this type of ceiling. A variety of passive solar design techniques use the sun's insolation where solar energy input is beneficial and deflect it where it's not wanted. Patios, porches, arches and balconies on the east and west — front and rear — facades not only add architectural interest but also block direct sunlight from entering the house in the summer. Major spaces such as living room, dining room and kitchen are placed along the south wing with large south-facing windows to invite view and light. The depth of eave overhangs and the height of window sills along the south facade are calculated to admit low-angled winter sun and block the high-angled rays of the summer sun. In tandem with the design to regulate direct heat gain from the sun is the To maximize the use of the south exterior wall for generating solar energy, a 16’-long thermoplastic glazed TAP with low and high vents is installed on the wall by the kitchen cooktop. In winter, the TAP functions as a solar heater, heating the air inside the panel and venting it into the interior for space heating; in summer, it serves as a “solar fan (vs. elec. fan)” to enhance air flow entering the house from the north. Another thermosiphon tower by the auto court is also installed with a south-facing TAP to draw hot air out of the attic and exhaust it to the sky. Located at the southwest corner of the house where it receives maximum sun exposure, a greenhouse outfitted with GE thermoplastic glazing and an insulated concrete foundation serves as a heat source for the house in the winter. In the summer its heat is kept out of the house and vented out by several GAF regular and automatically open/close foundation vents, a power vent and an ODL skylight. The washwater from the greenhouse sink will be directed to irrigate the planting
The exterior walls are white to maximize reflectance of solar heat. Light instead of dark colors increase the solar reflectance of the Energy Star-labeled Monier LifeTile’s concrete roof tiles. S-tile instead of flat tile is used to enhance ambient air circulation below as well as above the tiles. Solar-thermal and solar-photovoltaic technology puts the sun to work year-round for the house. An 80-gallon SunEarth Copper Heart solar water heating system occupies a portion of the southwest upper roof, the hottest spot of the structure. The solar hot water system is integrated for maximum efficiency with a Controlled Energy Corporation Aqua Star wall-mounted tankless gas water heater. The solar system preheats the water running through the tankless unit to reduce gas consumption. The gas heater provides instantaneous hot water while saving both water and energy, since it doesn't maintain a tank of hot water inside the house that is subject to standby heat losses, and eliminates the double energy loss of competing with interior air conditioning in the summer.
To cover the few days a year when the house needs mechanical heating, ventilation or air conditioning, T & L A/C Inc. designed and installed an efficient 2-zone system: a 5-ton unit serves all the spaces used mainly in daytime and a 3-ton unit, the bedrooms. The system includes Carrier super-quiet heater/AC units with the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio at 11.8 and 12.0, gas forced-air furnaces, pilotless digital ignitions, variable-speed blowers, and automatic setback programmable thermostats for reduced output at night. T & L tightly sealed the ducts with UL-approved mastic tapes to reduce energy waste as well as drafts and dust. A Lennox’s Elite direct-vent gas fireplace/heater, located at the north end of two-story family room, comes into play during cool weather. The chimney vent pipe comprises a two-in-one pair of pipes: cooler winter outdoor air is brought in through an inner pipe, and is heated by the warm exhaust air exiting the fireplace through a surrounding outer pipe — quite unlike the standard fireplace and chimney, which just vents warm indoor air. "This is a less expensive but more efficient way to make a fireplace," Ed says.
Various environmentally friendly, energy/water-saving appliances and fixtures are selected for the operation of the home. It includes Hayden Industrials’ SuperVac central vacuum system with a washable filter, ODL’s tubular skylights, ETI’s floor warming system, Kohler’s single-lever faucets and 1-piece toilets, and Energy Star labeled clothes washer and dryer (Maytag’s Neptune), ceiling fans (Builder’s Best), light fixtures, and compact and T-8 florescent lamps. The house is built with a consciousness of resource conservation. Wood waste products such as engineered truss joists, oriented strand board and medium density fiberboard (MDF) are used for, respectively, floor/ceiling structure, roof/wall sheathing, shelving and molding. Used doors, hardware, "I'd like to have the opportunity to clone this house design, to reproduce it elsewhere, and spread the benefits of this design to other residents and to the environment," Ed Huang reflects as he surveys what he has wrought. "I've designed this house not just for myself and my family — but for the earth." Join other Eco-Home™ Network members here on February 22nd to experience Dr. Huang’s "house for the earth." Adapted from an article by Greg Wright Directions: Take Freeway 10, exit at Santa Anita Ave., head north, right on Camino Real Ave. and left on 8th Ave. Or, take Freeway 210, exit at Santa Anita, head south, left at Durate Rd, right on 8th. Inquiries about this house can be directed to Ed Huang at ehuang@cra.lacity.org or by telephone to (213) 977-1785. "A house is more than just a physical object. It's not just an architectural style and layout, but also a lifestyle layout, a way of life."—Ed Huang |
At the heart of Huang's home is the central open-air courtyard, the northerly auto-court anchored by the oak and the open garage in-between the two courtyards. The 20-by-20-foot central court, along with the adjoining 3-car garage which opens to both courts, is the core of a U-shaped floor plan that acts as a whole-house wind scoop that captures the northwesterly prevailing breeze, a cool air supply to the house. 
effects of thermal convection and thermal mass -- is present in every part of the house and in the house as a whole. Around the central court, the building is basically one room deep, without many interior walls to block natural ventilation and light. Operable windows and doors are strategically located to facilitate both east-west and north-south whole house cross ventilation. A special system is built to enhance the north-south flow by drawing in supply air from the cooler north side and exhausting that air at the south side after it has passed through the house and warmed up. The system includes low single-hung windows that favor the entry of cooler outdoor air, higher windows and a thermosiphon air panel (TAP, see below) along the south exterior wall for air exhaustion. 
A strategically located thermosiphon tower adjacent to the central court utilizes air's stacking effect to release heat from the home's interior to exterior through vents around the tower, siphoning in the cooler "exterior" air from the courtyard below. Three strategically located operable ODL skylights also facilitate the stacking effect, exhausting hot air outdoors and cooling off the thermal mass inside the house. 
application of thermal mass principles and night ventilation of heat gained in daytime. Enhanced mass made of 5/8” sheetrock over walls and ceilings and Western Quarry Tile’s thick and dark floor tiles over concrete slab at building’s south wing, increases its capacity for heat storage and thus for space heating/cooling. In winter, the mass bathed in sunlight stores the heat through the day and releases it in the night when the heat is needed. In summer, the shaded mass absorbs heat generated by household items during the day and releases to sky through open skylights in the night. Granite kitchen counters along the south-facing windows also expand thermal mass in this key heat-exposed location. 
Two patios, one covered and the other with a trellis, shade the west side of the house. The covered patio has an outdoor kitchen, along with a TV set, and other amenities for outdoor living, to keep cooking heat -- and people – outside during warm weather. Similarly, the central court is served by a wet bar, hooked with outlets for a gas patio heater and sound systems. Designed with courtyards and patios to accommodate outdoor activities, "my home is a Mediterranean house for a Mediterranean lifestyle," Ed Huang avers. "A house is more than just a physical object. It's not just an architectural style and layout, but also a lifestyle layout, a way of life, that fits Southern California’s climate." 
Perfect Electrical Installed a two-kilowatt Siemens EarthSafe solar-PV system — complete with a rooftop sprinkler system to keep the solar panels clean and maximize green power production — which will supply at least half of the home's electricity (and, in the future, power for an electric vehicle charging station which is being pre-wired in the garage). The system's DC-to-AC inverters which produce a lot of heat are installed on the cooler north exterior wall instead of warmer south wall to minimize the chance of overheating. 
The house is built with a tight envelope: it utilizes Owens Corning’s enhanced fiberglass insulation in the exterior walls, underfloors, and attics, including 8-1/4” R-30C on all cathedral ceilings, and QuiteZone acoustic batts in interior walls. Conscious design effort was made to reduce electric boxes on draft-prone exterior walls. To tighten up exterior window/door openings, Continental Industries installed a leaded triple glass window, and JCH Enterprises supplied Energy Star-labeled windows and patio doors made by International Window with low-emissive double glazing and vinyl frames. Sliding-glass doors are used instead of swing doors. In addition, Superior Radiant Insulation's Polar-Ply foil-faced sheathing on the roof deck and regular household aluminum foil sheets inside the west walls were installed to reduce heat gain. 
bricks, pavers, even trees and shrubs on this site and other nearby job sites were salvaged and reused. Construction wastes, including lumber and tiles have been minimized though recycling and reusing wherever possible, completing the picture of a home for living in alignment with the earth’s life support systems.