Energy Efficiency From The Ground Up!
SIPs and Me | Construction Innovation | Techies Gone Wild
Yesterday I was up in the Sierras talking with SIP Home Systems (SHS) and had a meeting with their president, Tom Frantz. I was there just to straighten out some issues I had with the construction plans for my project but it was nice to see we had some common ground in our vision going forward.
Tom is an ex-techie who has some really high goals for their construction market. SIP construction already provides about 60% energy savings over standard home construction, making it a no-brainer to target energy efficient construction projects using SIPs – Structural Insulated Panels. Think EnergyStar with very little hassle and you will begin to get the picture.
Tom told me yesterday they’re looking into solar energy production. Vets2Vines will be focusing on the vineyard management, however it will be powered nearly 100% by wind, and I’m excited to see the SHS concept going solar. Very complementary to the wind and energy efficiency and Tom’s no slouch at finding the best bang for the buck. I don’t mind drafting behind SHS one bit; less research and dealmaking for me, and I can put together the best package possible for the agricultural clients.
What I would really like to accomplish with Vets2Vines would be to provide an agricultural incubator – something that would showcase renewable energy and other cost saving approaches for the aggies.
Enough about yourself | Get back to the SHS Dudez
I think of it as quite fascinating and there are more ex-techies working in the field than you know how to shake a stick at. A lot of them did get out of dotbombs and into energy and agriculture in the past five years.
Kindred spirits really. It’s like being involved with tech incubators except, as Tom put it yesterday, in construction your competition is used to an older business model and generally not as innovative.
And that’s our edge-y advantage. Carpe Diem.
Ken Porter, one of the founders of SHS, and Tom developed a patented method of tying down the SIP panels to the foundation which saves bundles of cost. Using their experience I was able to spend about twelve dollars and save about sixty. That’s a simple application of applied knowledge. I’m all about applying knowledge. Five to one ratio always gets me pumped. It’s like buying a hot dog at Costco.
In fact, it’s (wait for it wait for it) – Disruptive Technology.
Disruptive Technology
Why I get up every morning. Because proper applications engineering is doing something better, faster and cheaper.
3nW Corporation – Focusing On Disruptive Technology:
Disruptive Technology is defined as any technological advance that attempts to meet at least two of the three following conditions: be ten times cheaper than any alternative, provide ten times higher performance, or provide ten times higher functionality.
Meeting all three conditions is optimum.
Disruptive Technology is typically not favored by the previous controlling interest or monopoly, and potential users must learn of the benefits through cooperative business development marketing strategies.
Disruptive Technology is highly valued by the business or consumer who benefits from lower costs and higher profits.
I’m Back, I’m Back… | My Back… My Back…!
Got quite a bit of a workout today getting all of the concrete tiedown bolts in place. I’m feeling my lack of exercise from the past two years. Aircrew Aircrew Oooh-rah*ouch I think I strained something.
This project is going to utilize some high-tech energy efficiency materials but in order to not conflict with steps four five and six down the road, I did a bit of hands-on work and got the tiedowns properly placed so I won’t have to work too hard in the later phases.
How hard was it?
Let’s just say my subcontracted (experienced and licensed) concrete contractor stipulated to me before taking this job that his quote was ‘without the tiedowns’. I was cool with that; I was going to pay Ken to come down and do it for me and today I saved about a grand by doing it myself. Nice to make or save a thousand bucks in a day. 
At least, that’s what I figured mileage plus his hourly rate would have been or what a General Contractor would have tacked onto their rate. Ken knows how to do this a lot faster than I did, so it might have just been an afternoon’s work but it all adds up.
After checking out the plans and how I was doing the tiedowns, George is fired up about using SIPs in a project he’s doing for himself up in the Arizona mountains. He asked me if the panels could handle a snow load.
Me: “Are you kidding George? SHS is located up in Grass Valley and they design most of their projects for heavy snow loads in the Sierras! Call ‘em and tell them I sent you…”
SIP home construction evangelism. One carpenter at a time. 
At the end of the day it’s Miller Time…
It’s very satisfying to actually work on the foundation for a building; something primal I think in being able to build your own home (or even your own office in my case).
At least I had the situational awareness nagging at me in the back of my head to triple check my work and I found out that my stupid questions were not so stupid after all. I wasn’t quite grasping it until I had put in the skull sweat onsite for it all to sink in.
But after doing a SIP panel raising two years ago with Ken, I know his teaching style. He would rather you fully appreciate the Zen of being in the Now with the SIPs (my words, not his – he’s very down to earth) in order to fully grasp the techniques.
The next building I work on will go much faster because this time I was confused about which page of the plans to find which dimensions, etc. etc. etc. And I’m not (too) stupid either; it’s just very complicated.
And the best news of all was, after I carefully checked all the walls I found I had done them all right the first time. I was short a few placements but that’s why I made the phone call to double-check. Wait – I’ll have to get back about having them all right after the county inspection tomorrow.
Kudos to Ken, Jedi Master of all things SIP, for taking the time with me to answer my questions. Even though I called him about six times between yesterday and today. Very patient man, that Ken.
I took some pics with the digital camera and I’ll do a slide show / demo on how I read those plans and put in the tiedowns for the Vets2Vines website. That should help others in the same situation.
I’m excited for the next phase of Vets2Vines which is going to be the big construction project.
At least I know now that I can hack it without screwing up anything really major .
Posted by Charles in 21st Century Farm Project | Comment now »
