Those three words kind of epitomize the environmental movement. I’m going to take a short journey down this road that’s a little different than prior blogs. This time, we are going to focus on the “reuse” portion of environmental stewardship.
In May 2019, we helped our son purchase a 1907 shotgun style house in the historic Washburne District of Springfield, Oregon. As you can see from the above pictures, it was a major fixer-upper. However, the “bones” of this house were good. The foundation seemed pretty solid (at least there WAS a foundation!) and most of the work seemed largely cosmetic.
Often, people will tear down old houses and simply build new. It’s often just easier. But it also comes with a much higher environmental cost: new lumber, new materials, plus the disposal of the existing materials has an impact on our world.
Aptly dubbed “The Onion House” by our son, we started by removing the wallpaper. Layers and layers and layers of wall paper. Up to SEVEN layers in many parts of the house. But the reward was the very first “layer,” which was beautiful, fir shiplap. Throughout the entire house, except for the bathroom and utility room (which were added some time after 1907).
The bulk of the time spent by our son (and my wife and me) in this initial phase was taking down the wallpaper. We literally touched every square inch of the house. And in many places, we touched over and over. Untold numbers of small brad nails, staples and glue were removed.
The results were incredible and I’ll show those in future blogs. But I wanted to go through our process of the “reuse” of such a character-filled house. While it is not on the historic register, it does have historic significance. And it was certainly worth saving and not just razing for a new home.
So sit back and enjoy a little bit of our journey in the renovation and Reuse of The Onion House.
The Greek later Theta, the symbol of the environmental movement. It is also combination of O for organism and E for environment. I had a key ring in this shape for years.
Fifty years ago today, I was finishing my eighth grade year at Madison Junior High in Eugene, Oregon. My social studies and language arts teachers, Gary Folkker and Tony Mohr had our class participate in this event called “Earth Day.” We walked around the neighborhood on Wilkes Drive, where our school was located, and picked up litter.
That’s pretty much all I remember about that day, but it had a profound impact on my 13 year old life. I did a simple thing: I committed to never litter again. But that pivotal event changed the direction of my life and how I would respond to and live in this Earth we call Home.
There were many other moments and directional shifts in the following years. Enough, I think, to write a book. Maybe someday, but I want to focus on today and moving forward.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of that very first Earth Day. I’m now 63 years old, and I still haven’t littered. And, for those of you who know me, you know simply not littering was just scratching the surface of who I would become. Those of you who don’t know me, read some of my past blog posts here at thesimpleHOUSE.
What I want to briefly talk about today is the opportunity we have during this pandemic that has shut most of the world down. Industry, vehicle travel, air travel, and many other segments of our economy have ground mostly to a halt.
And in that, people in India can see the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years because the air is cleaner.
The water in the canals in Venice are becoming clearer because of less pollution from the gas-powered boats. (The dolphin story circulating is actually false, by the way).
Largely due to the reduction in travel via internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the air in Los Angeles is much clearer, as well.
We have an opportunity during this crisis to adjust our way of thinking. Will we have the fortitude to actually do that, or will we, when the pandemic has passed, simply return to “life as normal?”
We don’t have to; and we shouldn’t return to normal. We have an opportunity here to truly and significantly shift to electric cars, renewable energy, reusable over disposable and many other choices we can (and should) make.
We need to be much better stewards of this planet we have been entrusted to care for. Again, those of you who know me, know my environmental focus is also a spiritual focus. And those of you who don’t know me, again, read some of my past blog posts here at thesimpleHOUSE.
Today marks 50 years of focus on caring for this planet on which we live. We have an opportunity at this turning point in global history. Let’s seize it.
Two years ago today, we took delivery of our 2018 long range, rear wheel drive Tesla Model 3. We named her Scarlett because we broke from our decades-long grey car theme and went red.
We have driven her over 22,000 miles in those two years (she is our only car) and I wanted to reflect again on our experiences.
Driving is fun again. I grew up as kind of a gear-head (although without a lot of the mechanical part; I just loved cars and learning all about them). In recent years, I had lost the rush from driving. Some of that may have happened during our mini-van years, but I think a lot happened because cars became pretty vanilla. Enter Scarlett. With a 0-60 in just under 5 seconds, a virtually silent motor and incredible handling, I actually enjoy driving again. Almost enough to want to give up my bike and go back to two cars.
Driving is almost free now. Our Volkswagen Passat got decent gas mileage (about 20mpg around town) but needed premium petrol to avoid costly maintenance cleaning out the fuel lines. At about $3.50 a gallon, these last 22,000 miles would have set us back almost $4,000 in just fuel. I geeked out the other day and actually sat down and added up our Supercharging costs (traveling out of town) and our home charging (most of our charging we simply plug in at night and we’re fully-charged by morning). We have spent a total of $646 for electricity. Including road trips. And that’s not taking into account our solar, which supplements our charging, further reducing our costs.
Driving is guilt-free. Because we have solar, our electricity is at worst subsidized from our utility and at best free. Our local electric utility also sources 90% renewable energy and is 80% carbon neutral. So that extra little trip to the store or across town has very little impact on the environment. And it’s fun (see above).
Driving is virtually maintenance-free. In two years, we have rotated the tires once and replaced the cabin air filter once. Total cost: $126.50. That’s it. Total.
I roll my eyes when I see articles about range anxiety and charging, which seems to be the single most prevalent negative perspective for EVs. I did chuckle a bit when I saw a recent headline from the AAA that said “owning an EV will cure range anxiety.” I chuckled because this is so true.
After about two of our first shorter test road trips, we quickly realized that the Supercharger network and even the slower Level 2 charger locations are robust and easy to find and use. Now, we plan 1,500 to 2,000 mile vacations with no worry or concern. Even worst-case scenario, we can plug into a standard 110 outlet. And a side benefit is when we stop to charge, I will usually Yelp a nearby coffee, lunch or dinner spot. We have found some really good restaurants this way and have rarely been disappointed. And it’s fun (see above).
Fit and finish were some early concerns with the Model 3, but we’ve had very few warranty issues. And they all have been corrected by our awesome Tesla Ranger. And what is a Tesla Ranger? Rather than multiple brick and mortar Service Centers, Tesla (always thinking outside the box, literally) has a group of mobile service technicians driving an outfitted Model S who come to us when we need service. My guess is Tesla has figured out this is cheaper in the big picture. But it’s also brilliant customer service. We schedule a service (like a tire rotation) and he comes to our place of work or home, does the work and moves on. We don’t have to drop the car off, take the courtesy van to work, get picked up later to go get the car, and so on. Zero lost time on our part.
In fact, the only time we’ve been to the Oregon Service Center in Portland was February 10, 2018 when we took delivery. The only time.
So, yeah, as I’ve said many times before, we’d do this all again. The two comments we’ve often heard from the beginning and still hear are:
• We absolutely love our car.
• I don’t think I could ever go back to a gas car.
A vibrant city and neighborhood will have several common aspects. One of those is walkability. And that’s what attracted us to our home at the edge of downtown Eugene.
We were looking for a place where we could build our new, downsized home. On the top of the list were walkability and bike-ability. As we looked around, we found a vacant lot close to downtown.
What we have found is our new home fits pretty well into the four characteristics that Jane Jacobs, a key voice in shaping urban vitality, posited for vibrant communities.
MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS
One category required for a vibrant neighborhood is one that serves more than two functions at different times of the day. Our house has, within just a couple of blocks, housing, restaurants, retail, automobile service, churches and offices. When I needed tires for our car, I dropped it off at the tire shop that’s four blocks from our house, walked home and waited until it was done. We often walk to dinner, able to choose from several very good restaurants.
SMALL BLOCKS
The block we live on is about 350 feet between streets. It’s in one of the original plats for Eugene, dating to 1907 and laid out on the traditional grid system. This means that services and activities that are just four blocks away are an easy 5 minute walk.
DIVERSE BUILDINGS
The idea here is to have a diverse group of buildings in a neighborhood by age and type in order to have a breadth of incomes. We live on a corner. The four corner lots alone house our single family home, which is a new redevelopment on our lot. Across the street to the west is a two-story apartment building built probably in the 1960s with six small units. To the south is one of the original farmhouses from the early 1900s that is a single family rental. Kitty-corner is also one of the original homes, but one that was larger and has been since converted into three rental apartments.
DENSITY
With the apartments in our immediate neighborhood (including a 13-story apartment two blocks away), the accessory dwelling units, the houses converted to duplex and triplex units, there is enough population in a close-in area to support the restaurants, retail and services mentioned above.
It appears that Jane Jacobs was right. We love our walkable neighborhood.
We just passed another milestone with Scarlett: the 20,000 mile mark. I wasn’t able to get the photo right at 20,000 (we were on our way home from lunch at the Creswell Bakery), but this is as close as I could get.
I also never did the “start the Trip meter” from day one, so it shows the 18,000 from when I thought to start it. Regardless, it’s pretty close.
IMPRESSIONS
We still love driving all-electric. To be able to plug in at home and be ready to go most any time is more convenient than stopping at a gas station. And it’s still just as fun to drive as it was on day one.
In fact, as Brenda and I were returning home from Creswell yesterday, along Hamm Road, not I-5, I commented on how driving was fun again. I actually haven’t enjoyed driving this much since I sold my 1975 Porsche 914.
COSTS
And, of course, there’s the cost. There have been many online comparisons that show over the longer term, a Tesla Model 3 is actually less money overall to own than a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. I believe that.
In our first 20,000 miles, we have had one screw removed from our tires (free at Les Schwab) and had the tires rotated ($62.50 from mobile service). We have had zero trips to the Service Center and only a couple of mobile service visits for some minor warranty issues.
Compared to our previous car (VW Passat), we have spent way less on fuel and normal service. The Passat got about 22 mpg ave and needed premium fuel which is currently at $3.65/gallon. Over the course of 20,000 miles, that’s about $3,300 just for gas. Add an oil change every 5,000 at $60 and you add $240. Tire rotation maybe $60. Total: $3,600.
As you can see, we have averaged about 252 Wh/mile with Scarlett. At full cost at home, we pay $0.091 per KWh. Not counting our solar generation, which cuts that dramatically, and the occasional long trip with Supercharging, where we pay more, if we use that base number, we’ve spent $455 over our first 20,000 miles for fuel. Add in that tire rotation and our total cost has been $517.50.
You can see how quickly the initial cost gap between a Camry or Accord and a Model 3 closes. We have had Scarlett exactly 21 months and are saving almost $150 per month in fuel and service. Over the course of four years (the length of most car warranties), that’s over $7,000.
CONCLUSION
Aside from the cost savings, our Model 3 is just a joy to drive and own. Fast, no regular service, quiet, did I say fast? And, as I mentioned at the 10,000 mile mark, fun to drive and no gas smell/exhaust fumes in our garage or at fill up.
Doing our part for the environment and enjoying it along the way.
As time has progressed and civil rights legislation has been enacted, racial, ethnic and economic segregation has become more subtle. Covenants, Codes and Restrictions, commonly referred to as “CCRs”, are deed restrictions placed on lots. They create lots generally of a certain size and price. They require minimum house size (often 2,000 sq ft or more). They specifically restrict the lot’s use to one single family dwelling and many times, they require owner occupancy, prohibiting renters.
Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) are another way developers use to achieve the same ends. An entire area is designed for a look and feel. Many times, homes in PUDs are similar size, design and even color. Often in the suburbs or at the edges of our communities, and generally large enough to create at least a small neighborhood, PUDs further foster that “sameness” and discourage diversity.
The general thinking is to use multi-family housing as a “buffer” between more intense uses (commercial) and less intense uses (single family). Neighborhood Groups fight adamantly about keeping the single family “character” of their areas intact.
These create at best a homogenous neighborhood of similar economic class and at worst segregates the wealthier from the economically poorer residents. Socially, monoculture is, in my opinion (and in the opinions of many others much smarter than me) unhealthy. When we only hang out with people who look like us, think like us and have similar economic means, not only do we miss out on a variety of cultural exposure, society will decay and divide.
Zoning laws and regulations were first instituted in the US in the late 19th century. We were pretty much a rural society at that time, but when urbanization really took off, and immigration also was high, the population of our neighborhoods became much more diverse. Sadly, in my opinion, zoning laws initially began by directly banning people based on race and ethnicity.
Yes, zoning actually began as racism.
In the early 1900s, many cities passed lot restrictions requiring a minimum construction cost and even prohibited the sale of homes to blacks. Communities like Los Angeles, for example, enacted the nation’s first municipal zoning ordinance in 1908, which prohibited in residential areas “nuisance” uses such as laundries, which were largely owned at the time by immigrants.
In 1926, the US Supreme Court upheld what has come to be THE landmark case for zoning by communities: Euclid v Ambler. Euclid, Ohio’s authority to regulate uses on particular lots and separate specific uses was upheld and stands to this day. And it even seems, on its surface, to make good sense.
This idea then spread to many municipalities and spawned the Euclidean zoning we have today. Basically, it allowed suburban homes, away from the commerce, which, coupled with the advent of the automobile, essentially created more homogenous neighborhoods. And this, in turn, actually furthered racial, ethnic and economic segregation.
I encourage you to study this more; what I’m saying here is a very cursory overview and simplification of our history. There is way too much to put into this short article.
(next time: some examples of current zoning methods)
We are announcing an additional focus of thesimpleHOUSE. There has been much talk lately about housing (costs, shortages, “missing middle” and more). We are facing a need to change our historic views of housing.
We will be diving into this topic starting with a little history of how we got to where we are and where we can go from here. Our first article will be posted soon.
Come by Wildcraft Cider Works at 232 Lincoln Street Sunday, September 8, 2019 between 3:00 and 6:00 pm. See up close and learn more about electric vehicles and talk with owners about their experiences.
We will be showing Scarlett, our Tesla Model 3, and others will be available for test drives. The event is part of the BRING! Home and Garden Tour and the National Drive Electric Week EV Showcase.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of us moving into our Lawrence Street home. As we reflect on those years, here are some thoughts.
NEIGHBORS This is probably singularly the best part of living where we do. We have come to know, socialize with, care about and just enjoy the company of our neighbors. We have twice a year potlucks for the “extended” neighbors (about 25-30 attend), monthly “Thirsty Thursdays” for the closer neighbors (about 8-10 people), an occasional soda on our front porch or glass of wine on a neighbor’s front porch. All in all, it’s just wonderful.
WALKABILITY Being close to downtown Eugene, we have a very walkable neighborhood. Just tonight, after dinner, Brenda and I walked a loop around the neighborhood, stopped at the corner market for our Haagen-Dazs bars (a summer ritual; we figure the walk cancels the calories). We often walk to close by restaurants for dinner, or downtown to get coffee and stop by the farmer’s market. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we sold our second car and now only have one car.
SUSTAINABILITY If you have followed my blog, you’ll know we built our home to a very high sustainability standard. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a benchmark rating system for sustainability. Our home achieved the highest level: Platinum. In fact, for the first three years in our home, we actually produced more electricity than we consumed. And this is in an all-electric home.
But then Scarlett came along in February 2018. Elsewhere in this blog, I also discuss our commitment several years ago that our next car would be an electric vehicle. Just one year after moving in, we sold the second car, then prayed our 2001 Passat would last until we could buy an EV. That happened in February 2018 when we took delivery of our Tesla Model 3. Going bold and buying a red car (most of our previous cars had been some level of gray), we appropriately named her Scarlett.
We charge probably 99% of the time from home, with a 240v plug we wired into our garage. Our monthly fuel bill went from $62.50 to about $7.80 switching from gasoline to electricity. The caveat is we are now, after just over 16 months with an EV, no longer net zero. In four years, we have received from our utility 23,741 KWh of electricity while delivering to them 21,843 KWh. In four years, we have used a net of 1,898 KWh of electricity.
That kind of bummed me out a bit until a realized the average home uses between 800 and 1,200 KWh per month. Our monthly average is just over 39 KWh per month. INCLUDING our car fuel costs. So, OK, I feel better now. (Thanks, Eli for that perspective).
CONCLUSION If we had all of this to do over, we’d do it. In a heartbeat. And we’d do it the same as we did.
We are so blessed and so happy in our ‘hood. Life is good.
