potrero view

February 2010

Proposed Potrero Hill Home to Generate Power

By Nicole Hudley

A proposed “energy-plus home,” that would replace an existing structure located at 448 Pennsylvania Street  may be a pioneer in an emerging movement towards an “organic energy” system in which energy users rely on a diverse, place-based set of resources, rather than large-scale energy facilities.  The home would be developed as the City completes a planning process to determine how to meet a goal of producing no greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity consumption by 2030.

The energy-plus home would deploy six community-scale renewable energy technologies, including solar, wind, and energy storage, according to owner Matt Cheney, who has been a Potrero Hill resident since 1978.  The existing three-story structure would be replaced with a four-story building.  One of the floors would be set-aside for a low-income family.  From the front yard the house would appear tall relative to its neighbors, but the top floor would be narrow, serving as an eat-in kitchen with a deck. 

Blue bin items would be recycled, and rain and grey water would be collected and reused.  According to Cheney, a key feature would be a fifty kilowatt capacity battery that would enable the on-site power generated from renewable technologies to be stored and used in the home or dispatched to the electricity grid as needed.  “It is a demonstration project on how that [small-scale storage and dispatch] can work, and hopefully the first of many.  It demonstrates a smarter way of helping the grid become a smart grid, and it’s meant to take the pressure off the public system,” said Cheney.

According to San Francisco Community Power executive director and View publisher Steve Moss, the state needs a strategy to efficiently deploy community-based energy resources.  “We pay a lot of money for electricity.  California has among the most expensive rates in the country, we just don’t feel these high prices as much because our temperate weather results in generally reasonable utility bills,” said Moss, “Large-scale renewable energy facilities are costly, concentrate the risk of failures into a handful of technologies, and maintain a status quo in which we depend on an unknown engineer typically located far away from where we live to keep the lights on.”

The City is considering ways to meet future energy needs as part of a long overdue update of its Electricity Resource Plan, conducted by the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute, a consulting firm.  A portfolio of potential resource options is being examined from the supply side – solar, wind, and other renewables – and demand side – energy efficiency and demand response – according to Manual Ramirez, manager of regulatory and legislative affairs for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s power enterprise.  “The report has a long-term view, it’s essentially looking out to 2030,” said Ramirez.   When asked if energy-plus homes would be considered as part of the study, Ramirez said, “I don’t see it [the report] as excluding any particular technology but I don’t see it as explicitly including anything either.”

According to Cheney, his proposed home would serve as a model that could be replicated throughout the City.  “This is a breakthrough demonstration of storage capacity that will, if done enough, cause San Francisco to never rely on a Potrero Power plant again, and ultimately will facilitate its decommissioning,” said Cheney.  Last month state regulators announced that the power plant’s largest unit will shut-down this spring, while its three back-up jet-fueled units will close at the end of 2010.   If Cheney’s energy-plus home is successful, it will produce enough power for upwards of 50 homes.  “If you were looking at this from above, during the day the load map would basically show that the entire neighborhood would basically be blocked off,” said Cheney.

Neighbors of the proposed project are mixed in their support of the energy efficient home. “Is it [the energy] free?  If it’s free than it’s enticing,” said Pennsylvania Street resident Teresa Blea, “I guess some people offer positive things, like energy, to get you to agree to something you may not like, so I’d be a little skeptical about it."

“If it’s a green energy home, then I’m all for it.  As long as it doesn’t impede my view, then it’s all good.  I’m on the third floor, so I’m not impacted,” said Pennsylvania Street resident Jon Ranis.  “People are always doing some kind of home improvement around here,” he added.

The house’s immediate neighbors, one of whom may lose some of his view as a result of the proposed building’s elevated height, are most concerned about the project. According to Frank Palomarez, who lives behind the house and who examined proposed development plans, “Personally, we don’t think they should tear it down. It feels like it’s going to be something not looking right in the neighborhood. A sore thumb,” said Palomarez. “The neighborhood has been way more focused on the look of it, rather than the meaning of it,” said Cheney. 

Potrero Hill residents typically oppose development proposals when “they’re out of scale or out of character with the neighborhood,” said Dick Millet, a Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association officer.  “It [the project] might be a big fight, it might not.” 

According to City planner Julian Banales, late last year the project was withdrawn from the permit process and is currently inactive. But Cheney said that he's in the process of re-applying for a building permit with a revised proposal.  The upstairs kitchen would be smaller, narrower, and set-back, so as to shift the structure off the north property line.  The front of the house will be modified to better reflect the neighborhood’s character, and the foundation will be redesigned to make building it less disruptive during construction.

“I’m promoting a project that could benefit San Francisco, but if San Francisco proves a difficult development environment, or if they start removing pieces of it, then I may decide to take the project elsewhere.  It doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the idea,” said Cheney. 

Cheney plans to donate the renovated building to a local nonprofit organization, which has not yet been identified.  The organization would de-construct the existing home and recycle its building materials.  If fully successful the building will score 145 points on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design  Platinum Certification Rating scale, making it one of the world’s most eco-friendly homes.  

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