Ojai Valley Green Coalition Green Home & Building Tour Educates and Inspires

by Steven Lefler

Modular Lifestyles, Inc., based in Irvine and Roseville, CA, has been on a quest: To produce factory built homes that are highly energy efficient with the use of green generation technologies, yet built in such a way that these same technologies may be easily added in the future by the homeowner themselves. We have demonstrated these kinds of homes at a "Green Expo" in Sacramento for government officials to come and see. Our quest has been to exceed the California UBC "Green" "Calgreen" conventional building codes for Title 24 single family residences, be affordable, document and prove our results and savings.

The fact is the water is muddy between a manufactured home (Title25) and that of the Title 24 building code stick-built home. A home is a home to the buyer/customer; the foundation never matters except to the lender. A homeowner of a manufactured home must pay higher interest rates for this land lease arrangement. The overall purpose for the California building codes is to improve public health, safety and general welfare by enhancing the design and construction of buildings through the use of building concepts having a positive environmental impact and encouraging sustainable construction practices.

Our Green Home Tour House, Oct 2, 2010

On October 2, the 2nd Annual Ojai Valley Green Coalition Green Home & Building Tour and Home Show took place for the purpose of educating and inspiring local citizens toward the goal of making the valley a model sustainable community. Our 2010 Modular Lifestyles' "Green Modular Energy Star Home" was selected as a participant, and all participants received an award at the Reception. Our home (above) was built in October 2009. The tour had also chosen three "stick built" homes plus a commercial organic garden. Over 150 visitors paid $10 to take the tour as a fundraising event. The attraction was held on a Saturday afternoon, about 85 degrees temperature. This main event was sold as a way for someone to see - in one day - green solar-powered homes operating throughout the City of Ojai. The event drew the attention of local newspapers. It did help that the ASES National Solar Tour, the world's largest grassroots solar event, was being held on the same day. This Solar Tour event offers you the opportunity to tour innovative green homes and buildings to see how you can use solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies to reduce monthly utility bills and help tackle climate change. More than 160,000 participants did visit some 5,500 buildings in 3,200 communities across the U.S. This Ojai event was listed on that website, which increased the visitors.

The Ojai Valley Green Coalition, whose mission is to help Ojai Valley become a model green, sustainable community, had sponsored the local event. This community has a population of 8,000 and is 14 miles east of the City of Ventura. The tour visitors were surprised by the modular homeowner exposing his actual utility bills and the proven data of the utility savings. The modular home is "Net Zero;" the definition means that after 12 months of usage and credits, the Electric Company recognizes his bill to be equal (0) or he has unused credits to be paid. In California, the PV electrical generation is paid at $.09 to the homeowner; the utility charges usage at $.13. The three other Green Home Tour homeowners had the similar 2.0 KWH PV systems. Their home sizes were 2100 and 750 square feet respectively. The 2100-sq-ft home was a 3bd 2ba, modern in design with many hard different "Green" surfaces used in its construction. The 750-sq-ft home was Craftsman in design, 1bd 1ba, using passive solar orientation with a huge deck. Neither homeowner claimed they had achieved "Net Zero."

All of these homes showcased different "Green" materials used in counter tops, flooring, walls, cabinets and other features which made them desirable. The Tour had created specific placards detailing why the material was green or the energy efficiency of the devise or construction. Visitors were encouraged to read these placards and walk around the home to learn. Their only disappointment came from learning how much "Green" one needs to be "Green." How much and what Energy efficient items does one do to an existing home? The reality came from the education. The thought of combining "Green" and "Energy Efficiency" is costly, especially retrofitting or replacement. The fact that they could come and compare in this kind of setting made the visitors happy. It beats going to Home Depot and looking at materials. The modular homes open their eyes to the advantage of cost and time compared to stick-built in this green and energy-efficient space.

When it came time to visit the modular home, the visitors got to touch the quality of construction, feel energy efficiency, see the similarities to standard homes and how appealing it is to the eye. The common complaint about the modular home was the 4-5 steps to enter the home. The home was located in Oak Haven, a gated 62+ community. In California, starting 01/01/2011 the new code standard for new home construction will be 8" above grade. It is no longer allowed to build slab on grade and place water pipes within the cement slab. Until these new homes get built, the home buyers will slowly learn the differences and advantages to modular construction. Ultimately, the homes will appear similar in the future.

The most surprising question was, how could the visitors improve their own home? My common reply was to buy my modular home; it works. Who would know what would work in their home? I guess if you own a home today, the question is at what cost could you retro fit your existing home with energy efficiency and, ultimately, would it meet your expectations for savings after that expense?

It was a great day for factory built housing's validation and acceptance. We need more days like this. ##

For more information contact Steve Lefler, Vice President, Modular Lifestyles (949) 852-5581 or www.modularlifestyles.com or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it