Apr 24 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kevin Kirkland Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



From the street, 1820 Merriman Way in the South Side Flats looks like the rest of the upscale townhouses in Riverside Mews.

It's what you can't see that makes it special -- the 36 photovoltaic solar panels on the roof, geothermal tubing that reaches 450 feet into the earth, and a little number on the screen of a device called the Energy Detective. It was minus 4 in the early afternoon of a sunny day this week. For green builder Ernie Sota and Sota Construction Services, a minus 4 is even better than zero; it meant his zero-energy townhouse was generating 4 more kilowatts of electricity than it was using.

"People think Pittsburgh is not sunny enough for solar panels. But we get about 70 percent of the solar energy that Phoenix gets with a much smaller cooling load," he said.

Don't believe it? See for yourself from noon to 4 p.m. today and Sunday, when the townhouse will be open for tours.

 For more than 30 years, Mr. Sota has been pushing the envelope on energy efficiency in existing or new buildings. But this townhouse, which is priced at $489,000, is a breakthrough not only for him but also for Pittsburgh. Green Building Alliance calls it the first net-zero energy home in the city.

"We're not like the Wright brothers," Mr. Sota said. "We're like the guys who came after the Wright brothers, who made the airplane work a little bit better."

The most recent of the 14 finished townhouses in Riverside Mews use only 50 percent of the energy of a typical new house, easily beating the 85 percent figure required for an Energy Star rating. But building a stylish, 1,850-square-foot unit that generates at least as much energy as it uses took hard work, careful design and cutting-edge technology.

"We couldn't have done this five years ago," Mr. Sota said. "[Photovoltaic] and geothermal weren't affordable or efficient enough."

The 36 31/2-by-5-foot solar panels made by Sharp each generate 224 watts and are among the highest-density panels on the market. With an SMA inverter, the PV array puts out a maximum of 8 kilowatts or 8,500-9,000 kilowatt/hours a year. The ClimateMaster heat pump installed by Tudi Mechanical of McKees Rocks is super-efficient, cooling the townhouse in summer and heating it in the winter by transferring heat through a 450-foot-deep closed-loop system. Then a desuperheater uses excess heat from the pump to heat water for showers, laundry or dish-washing. As a backup, Tudi Installed an AO Smith instantaneous tank­less water heater.

"It's like wearing a belt and suspenders," Mr. Sota said.

But all these fancy gadgets would be pointless if the townhouse wasn't already energy-efficient. Perkins Eastman Architects and Strada designed the two-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouse (MLS No. 787963) to take advantage of daylighting and reduce heat gain through the windows.

Sota and its developer partner, Riverside Development Group, hire energy consultant MaGrann Associates to work with subcontractors to airseal all ducts, then test them before drywall is installed. A combination of foam and fiberglass insulation gives the roof an R-60 rating and the walls R-40.

After drywall is installed, MaGrann conducts door blower tests to check again for air leaks. The company certifies that this townhouse goes far beyond Energy Star standards.

Adding to the unit's energy stinginess and sustainability are low-voltage light controls, LED lighting, Energy Star appliances, a white reflective roof, low- and no-VOC paint, bamboo flooring, and siding and decking made partially from recycled aluminum and plastic bags, respectively.

The USG drywall contains recycled content, and the concrete block has Allegheny River gravel in it. There's even an undercounter composter in the kitchen. Made by NatureMill, it turns scraps into compost in about a week-and-a-half without odor, Mr. Sota said.

Just for fun, a whole-house audio system was added. It's the kind of thing someone who can afford a $489,000 townhouse would expect. Which begs the next question: Can you build a net-zero energy living space that's affordable? Mr. Sota says he can.

Sota and development partner AM Rodriguez Associates are currently working to convert the old South Hills High School in Mount Washington into 106 subsidized and market-rate senior apartments. When that project is finished this fall, both companies plan to begin work on a complex of net-zero apartments in Plum.

"Green building is not one big thing. It's a whole bunch of little things, step by step, then putting it all together," Mr. Sota said.

For more information, call Diana Lynn of One80 Real Estate Services at 412-318-4139 or go to www.riversidemews.com or www.sotaconstruction.com.

Kevin Kirkland: kkirkland@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1978.

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