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Town Crier Correspondent Business Profile Home energy conservation is on everyone's mind these days, but for architect Bill Maston of Los Altos, energy's always been an important topic. "Unfortunately, during the 1970s a number of passive solar homes were built that not only did not work, but created a style of architecture that was not greatly accepted by the average American home buyer," Maston said. "Today, numerous solar technologies have advanced to the point where there are products which can be integrated into any style of new home and into many remodeled homes, as well." After growing up in Mountain View, Maston earned his architectural degree at California State University at San Luis Obispo. For seven years, he was an architect for the Portola Valley Ranch project, an environmentally-friendly residential community with built-in open space. For 12 years, he's run his own architectural firm, which specializes in designing new homes and residential remodeling projects. Maston is seeing more and more clients who ask questions about how to include energy conservation in their home's design. "The good news is that anyone can conserve energy in the home they already live in," Maston said. "Just open your back door for five minutes or so in the morning, before you leave for work. All year round, this allows the moist air that collects inside at night to escape. In warm weather, leave the door open for half an hour to an hour, before 8:30 a.m., to air out and cool down the inside. Then close everything up tight all day. Otherwise, the inside temperature will go to the ambient outdoor temperature as the day heats up." Maston enjoys pointing out that many energy-conserving techniques date back 500 or even 5,000 years. In his Mountain View office on Castro Street, he opens up the building for an hour as soon as he arrives on summer mornings. "This dispels the hot air in a nonmechanical way and delays the need for using the air conditioner for at least an hour or two," he said. Another energy-reducing technique, if a house has a basement, is to install "cool tubes" which circulate cooler air from the basement into upstairs rooms. In attics, where summer temperatures can reach 130 degrees on a 90-degree summer day, a high volume fan can be installed to blow the hot air outdoors. Maston says that almost every newly built home on the Peninsula today already incorporates a variety of energy-saving features, such as super insulation materials under floors, and in walls and ceiling. "The 'Title 24 Report' now requires the use of Low E glass for windows, which reduces summer temperatures indoors," he said. Further energy conservation for homeowners can be achieved with automatic setbacks on heating and cooling systems, so that they operate only when needed. "This feature could make any home a rudimentary 'smart house,'" Maston said. "In a house or office that is fully 'smart,' technology is used to monitor all of the systems." In a solar house or office, the people inside must be active participants in the day-to-day operations of the structure - to maximize solar benefits for both heating and air conditioning. Passive solar homes use the whole building to retain heat or cooling, depending on the season, with features such as building and window orientation to the sun, roof overhangs, window coverings, solar films and general building materials, according to Maston. In active solar applications, technology such as solar collectors, photophotaic cells and other mechanical devices are used. "To our benefit, the 20-year delay since our last energy crisis has allowed numerous solar technologies to advance greatly," Maston said. "We have the demographic, the climate and the technology to fully utilize solar energy here on the Peninsula."
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