Community Decarbonization in Ecovillage at Ithaca
Community Decarbonization in Ecovillage at Ithaca
First published in Communities Magazine Issue 200: Adaptation in Fall 2023
Going back to the 1980s and 1990s, you could find commercials disparaging electric heat pumps as inefficient, expensive energy hogs in comparison to natural gas. Gas stovetops have long been considered the epitome of culinary prowess—the only choice for professional chefs, restaurants, and home-based culinary types. So when the first two neighborhoods in my ecovillage community were being designed in the mid-’90s and early 2000s, natural gas was perceived as a responsible choice. At the time, the electricity grid was not sourced by renewable energy such as solar, hydro, or wind power. So in the name of lower costs and higher efficiency, homes in Ecovillage at Ithaca were designed with natural gas furnaces, radiant heat floors, and, in some cases, gas cooking and heating stoves. We are distinct, however, in that we share these systems using energy clusters—several homes are ganged up and connected to a centralized utility center allowing for both economic and energy efficiency.
Fast forward 30 years and not surprisingly, our understanding of electricity versus natural gas has shifted. The impacts of climate change begin to creep into our lives in upstate New York, most recently with the astoundingly eerie, hazy days when Canadian wildfires brought record air quality alerts never experienced before. The call for decarbonization has become pressing, if not paramount for many communities. Decarbonization refers to an entity shifting systems—energy, food, transportation, etc.—off of fossil fuels in order to reduce or eliminate the carbon footprint associated with its activities.
It is worth noting that even today, building all-electric does not necessarily mean building sustainably. This will vary between communities depending on the energy sources for the electric grid in that location. I am proud to say that New York State has reliable alternative energy sources for its electricity, with recent legislation requiring power generation to be decarbonized by a date-certain.
In March 2023, I find myself sitting with a group of people in the living room of one of our common houses. A few things are notable about this scene. Because all of our buildings are required to have a southern orientation and take advantage of passive solar design principles, we are able to meet midday without having to turn on any lights, relying solely on the late winter sun passing low on the horizon through the abundant south-facing windows. In the FRoG neighborhood where I live (FRoG stands for First Residential Group), the buildings were designed not only with the large area of southern fenestration, but also with the charming feature of trellises that host grape or wisteria vines. This is an old technique that effectively gives living shade for the houses in the summer and alternatively, allows light and heat to penetrate into our spaces in the winter when the plants have died back. This meeting is also notable for the fact that it is in-person—almost a novelty in the Covid pandemic era. In what might be considered a quaint notion, our buildings also include operable windows, ceiling fans, and cross-ventilation so rooms can have some natural air flow which eases the minds of the meeting attendees who might be conscious of viral health.
Ecovillage at Ithaca, founded in 1991, now includes three neighborhoods. In addition to our passive solar requirement, buildings are designed to have small footprints and be densely clustered (conserving land, energy, and promoting social interaction), and with some variation based on the best materials and methods available at the time of construction, each home has thick, highly insulated walls, and tight building envelopes. The third neighborhood, TREE (Third Residential Ecovillage Experience), was completed in 2015 and, having learned from the example of the previous two neighborhoods, uses Passive House and all-electric building design methodologies, including solar electricity and hot water on the roofs. A handful of these homes are also net-zero, meaning they produce as much energy as they consume. Even within our own community, our understanding and implementation of responsible building practices have evolved with experience.
These techniques—passive solar, exterior shading, natural air flow, highly efficient wall construction, small homes—require no produced energy. In fact, none of the 100 homes at Ecovillage were built with air conditioning. This is the way we humans used to build for centuries before the revolution of steel and glass construction and the advent of mechanical heating and cooling systems. Hundreds of people visit our community each year to learn from our example; one of our founding goals was to demonstrate that the technology, engineering, know-how, and societal demand exist for the successful establishment of environmentally and socially responsible communities. And though we pride ourselves on many of the things we do well, our community is also adapting and evolving, as our understanding of the world and how we fit into it changes over time.
The meeting I am attending is the convening of a decarbonization task force for the FRoG neighborhood. Almost a year prior, some neighborhood leaders asked the question, “What would it take to get our neighborhood off of fossil fuels?” With the assistance of one of our residents who works in the energy sector, our community took the first step to addressing this question and applied for a grant from NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) to do a six-month Decarbonization Feasibility Study. The grant allows us to hire a consultant firm with expertise in energy systems to assist us with assessing our current energy use, the status of the existing systems, and whether things like ductwork or air handlers can be reused. We study scenarios that replace the heat and hot water with heat pump systems, but also are interested in what it would take to add cooling to our systems. We’ve noticed over recent years the increased number and temperature of hot days in the summer—sometimes too extreme to be handled by our natural systems for keeping buildings cool.
The scenarios consider both geothermal and air-sourced heat pumps; in either case, we will need to increase our solar fields and energy storage onsite to complete the loop of decarbonization. Our ecovillage is fortunate to have 170 acres of land, which gives us some choices for locating these systems. And although our primary aim is to be proactive about our own use of fossil fuels, we received this grant from NYSERDA, in part, to serve as a pilot project to demonstrate the process for this kind of retrofit at a neighborhood or district scale.
Getting our homes off fossil fuels is not the only step to decarbonization. There are several avenues left to tackle—energy, food, transportation, consumerism—that even we, as an intentional community with a sustainability mission, cannot claim to have perfected. But it feels like an important step as buildings (heating, cooling, and cooking) contribute up to 12 percent of carbon emissions in this country through fossil fuel use—and that is not accounting for the electricity use (some attribute 30-40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions to the built environment).
As the summer concludes, so too does our Decarbonization Feasibility Study—the consultants will present us with a few scenarios to consider as a community. Not only will we weigh the different fossil-free technology choices for heating and cooling, the needs around and siting of solar fields for the increased electricity load, but also how to accomplish such a feat without completely disrupting 30 households’ lives. And of course, we wait with anticipation to hear the cost estimates and suggestions for how to fund the whole thing.
On the summer solstice of June, the creeping grapevines stretch across that trellis above my south windows, providing that promised summer shade and allowing me to avoid conditioned air for home cooling. A pair of robins built a nest under its cover in the springtime, thinking they would be safe out of reach and shielded by the broad leaves and stockade of trellis and vines. This particular morning, a small drama is playing out as a squirrel climbs the drain pipe to the trellis and violates the sanctity of the nesting place. The adult robins create a flurry of noise and flight, pecking the intruder if it gets too close to the two hatched babies. The parents are relentless in their vigilance; their protective instincts and stamina impress me, and even other birds arrive at the scene to see what is taking place and contribute to the fight. After some time, the squirrel gives up and vacates the area. Later that day, I look up at the nest searching for the two little beaky heads of the baby robins. Seeing none, I wonder what happened to them, thinking the worst. But after a few minutes, I am surprised to see the two smaller fledglings practicing flight for the first time in my backyard in a tenuous but apparent state of survival. Whether they were ready or not, they were pushed from the nest into the next step of life by their circumstances.
What remains to be seen in this decarbonization process? How to convince 30 households to make a decision together to adapt to a future in which climate responsibility is imperative. Like the baby robins forced from their refuge by the imminent threat, I wonder what it will take to nudge my community out of its comfort zone and move forward. The next chapter of our collective climate liberation saga awaits.
Caitlin Cameron joined Ecovillage at Ithaca in 2022 as Project Director for Thrive—the community’s education and outreach arm. Originally from Carmel, Indiana (the roundabout capital of the world), she has a background in architecture and city planning and has also lived and worked in Ithaca, San Francisco, Boston, and Portland, Maine. Caitlin’s experience and interests include creative placemaking, smart growth, food systems, public art and memory, design policy, and sustainable design and development. She studied architecture at Cornell University, has a Masters in City Planning from MIT, and is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide through the Association for Nature and Forest Therapy. See ecovillageithaca.org.