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Patricia’s house is unique among its 39th Avenue neighbors. Photos by John Frando. Click to enlarge.

Home's Small Carbon Footprint Is Huge

Patricia St. Onge loaded her washing machine to explain how the graywater system in her home irrigates her garden. Water draining from her washing machine and shower flows into a 30-gallon plastic tank in the crawl space. Whenever the tank is full, a float valve triggers an electric pump, which sends water through purple irrigation pipes buried throughout raised planter beds in her back yard.

"Our eventual goal is to grow most of our food. Some day we hope to barter with our neighbors for fresh eggs and other staples that we can't grow," she explains.

Gardeners facing water rationing this summer may envy Patricia and husband Wilson Riles Jr., but they had the idea of installing the graywater system long before the local water utility company increased water rates and mandated 19 percent water usage reduction for residential customers.

It was Wilson's long-range plan to transform their 39^th Avenue bungalow with eco-friendly systems that help save money and the environment. It began in 2004 with the installation of a geothermal heat pump, or GeoExchange system, which heats their home in winter. It operates on the basis that ground temperature, just a few feet underground, remains a stable year-round temperature, even as air temperatures fluctuate widely in a single day.

A recirculating loop of water-filled copper pipe plunges 200 feet underground, drawing the stable heat of the earth upward into a heat pump in their laundry room. Inside the heat pump, the copper pipe coils around another pipe that is part of a second re-circulating loop of water-filled pipe that runs directly under the floor of the entire house. Within the heat pump, the second loop of water receives heat from the first loop and distributes it in a radiant under-floor heating system. It's an efficient heating system. Since heat rises, it doesn't require high temperatures to warm a house.

The GeoExchange system is also connected to their solar hot-water panel system, which replaces the output of a traditional gas or electric hot water heater. The large photovoltaic panels on the roof of their home came two years later in 2006.

"Our electricity bills went from $200 a month to producing a credit of $250 a month," Patricia explained. The photovoltaic panels produce electricity during daylight peak demand hours, when their meter runs backwards as they pump electricity into the municipal power grid. The meter runs forward only in the evening, resulting in a net credit. "Someday we'll trade in the Prius for a plug-in vehicle to fully capture the electricity credit. Our total PG&E bill is about $12 a month, just for natural gas for the stove," she said. Patricia said that they next plan to add a water catchment system to the roof gutters to collect and store large amounts of rainwater for flushing toilets.

She estimated that they have spent about $70,000 on these systems. "But they will last long after the energy and water savings they created have paid for themselves. It's the right thing to do, and best of all, the systems run themselves with no special attention or operation."

Patricia worked with local contractors Sunlight and Power (sunlightandpower.com) and WaterSprout (watersprout.org). She's happy to talk to others about the work that she's done. Call her at 530-2448.

Creek to Bay Day at Peralta Creek Park

Join your neighbors on Saturday, September 20, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Peralta Creek Park at Wisconsin St. and Rettig Ave. Volunteers will help restore the creekside park. Bring sturdy shoes, sun protection, and work gloves, if you have them. Children accompanied by parent or guardian are welcome. No need to pre-register, just show up.

John Frando can be reached at jfrando\@gmail.com and Kathleen Rolinson at krolinson\@gmail.com.