All-Electric Cutting Edge

How do you guide a mid-century Eichler into a 21st century all-electric future?

That question is surely on the minds of many homeowners these days as changing California environmental regulations look to transform our homes from gas-powered to all electric.

One possible answer to that question unfolds Saturday June 3, when a recently updated Sunnyvale atrium Eichler, now all electric, will be showcased as part of the AIA Silicon Valley Home Tour.

The homeowner of the Sunnyvale Eichler began his home's renewal project only looking for a kitchen remodel. But along the way the project began taking on new life as the home's family realized that their dream was "to bring the whole house up to modern standards, and to experiment with cool, new technology."

"The all-electric thing was something we didn't necessarily have in mind at the starting point," the homeowner says. "But along the way, the concept of an all-electric home, combined with solar, became very appealing. From an environmental standpoint, we felt it would be great if we could move off of fossil fuels, in itself a high motivational factor."

Looking to also move away from natural gas for safety and air quality was another primary goal for the family. "We emotionally wanted this move to be a good experience for the people who live here," he added. It was at that point that the homeowner reached out to one of the architects affiliated with the Eichler Network.

"The client called us since they liked some of our other projects," explains Megan Blaine, founding principal of the San Jose-based architectural firm Blaine Architects. "They had just purchased an L-shaped model Eichler, and the scope [of the project] blossomed over the course of six months."

Before the project began, the existing cooktop was already electric, but the clothes dryer, water heater, and radiant boiler were gas-operated. Completed in just over a year, the Sunnyvale Eichler now operates completely on electric, while maintaining the home's original radiant heating system.

To accomplish the radiant conversion, the team looked to LaChance's Radiant Heating. LaChance added a heat exchanger on the radiant system. "This creates a great cost savings in energy demand, part of the system we recommend people do install," Blaine says. "At a very basic level, it uses energy where the demand is greatest, and puts energy where it's needed most."

Anticipating a cost spike in their electricity usage, the homeowner opted to add solar, explaining that "we knew that an all-electric home would only make sense if we invested in solar. If we went all-electric but with no solar, we would have ended up with huge electric bills every month."

A heat pump was also factored into the plan. "Heat pumps are supposed to be extremely efficient, and help move energy from the outside to inside, and to the domestic and radiant heat," he says.