when you do cycle your system on and off a lot there are a lot of gases that come off the furnace when it's starting up because it's not burning at a nice hot speed and you are heating up the heating element and losing heat in that process it's inefficient. >> from a cost effectiveness perspective, changing out lighting and electronics on power strips the strips cost 5-6 bucks or sometimes 2 or 3 dollars. cheap to do and replacing the refrigerator. >> okay. >> good. >> those are the quick hits. >> on to other ways to do energy savings in homes. um -- water heaters and water heater piping is often a major source of heat loss. we have a microphone here for

this lady? >> i have a patio 8 by 8 it's filled with windows and how to keep the house cool or warm everything come from the central patio. and if i insulate it with new windows it's costly. and i don't know of a solution at this time. >> there is a cheaper fix and that is particularly for night time when you want to warm up you make insulated kurt tains for the windows. roll them up in the day when you want the light. when the sun goes downoir when it gets dark roll them down and seal them and you will be done. you can make them at home. you can have somebody professionally make them and they will look better depending on your sewing skills. i did that had i was a tenant

living in an old victorian in oakland i made my own window and borrowed i sewing machine and put it together and you can do it and will make an impact on the window. you can go to any of the websites like homeenergy magazine and from there you can find how to make your own kurt tains. when they say insulated curtains what it has is a vapor barrier in it so the warm, moist air in the house doesn't come into contact with the glass and you don't get the condensation in there. the heat that's in that moisture is helping to keep your space warm. when it hits the glass it radiates the heat directly out the window. in order tow keep that you want to be sure jour curtain has that

vapor area in that so you keep the heat inside. >> i have double pane windows and put in honey comb shades. over the years it's developed mold. >> inside? >> yeah. >> double pane windows don't last forever. the seal is leaking and moist air gets in the window and it gets trapd and doesn't get driven out and stays in there and you have moisture build up inside the glass. >> i feel the moisture. >> no way to get it out? >> no way to get it out. >> when were they installed? >> over 5 years ago. >> yeah. >> i would check the warranty. >> call them back. >> some of them are warrantied for up to 10 years. >> not all of us use heat in our homes but we almost all have hot water.

hot water has a couple of problems. energy problems that are easy to resolve. the first thing is hot water heaters themselves are sitting there and producing heat all the time and they have something called stand by heat loss they are standing by waiting for you to use them and they are losing heat all the time. how do you reduce stand by heat loss? make sure the water heater is insulated. the put the big insulation blanket. one of the cheapest and easiest thing you can do. the hardware store sells them for 15 bucks? >> you tape them, they come with all the stuff. cheap and easy and high efficiency. the other thing you can do is insulate your water pipes. here's one time of many types of

insulation. super easy, insulate all the hot water pipes you can readily get to in your garage or wherever your hot water heater is and insulated cold pipe within 5 feet of the hot water heater. the cold copper will conduct the hot water away from the hot water heater. the cold as well 5 feet away. >> we are talking any hot water we should mention facet aerators and the high efficiency shower heads. >> let's talk about that -- >> help save on your gas bill as well as save water. how many got the notice your water rates are going up? >> saves up to 70 percent in energy in water. great for kids long showers. i can speak for that. here is a head that reduces the

amount of water that come out. flow rate is 2 gallons per minute at 60 psi, with a nonremovable flow restricter. a lot have a flow restricter that's like a washer in there and over the course of the years somebody might pop it out because they want more pressure. >> another thing this facet has that's useful is the little thing that turns it off and on. you flip the switch and you don't have to readjust the water. these are very cheap. i don't see a price. >> saves on soap. >> what else with water savings. you can put flow restricters or aerators on the kitchen faucets and you want to reduce the amount of hot water lead that you run.

if you go in the shower and you turn on the hot water and have to wait a couple of minutes for the hot water to come out, how can you not have a problem with that? can you suggest? >> there is a device you can have installed that runs between the hot water line and the cold water line and connects the 2 so before you turn on the water you punch a button and it allows the water that's in the hot water line to go to the cold water line so that you are taking that water and circulating it once is come to temperature you open up the tap and hot water come out. >> that sounds complicated. >> is's a little plumbing thing. >> another solution is to have a tankless system. you will still have cold water you will be running between the

faucet and the water heater. if you have a long distance with the water heater and the faucet you with unstall a tank close to the faucet and you will have little water loss. all depending on how your building is configured. >> this is a hot water bottle and this helps me to save energy because i never turn on my heat, my apartment is freezing cold and my feet are freedzing cold i fill up the hot water bottle and put it on my feet at might. >> i have to run my hot water for a long time or i boil water. >> another way to get to reduce your hot water costs is do solar water heating. with the price of gas these days solar water heating is cost

effective. people talk about return on investment of 10-20 percent that's better than my mutual fund now. you might consider solar water heating. >> this is -- >> occidental power in san francisco he brought 2 samples a solar water heating panel. >> this is made locally by hel helio dime. it's at rolls royce of flat plate water heating system. it has been a small business in richmond. they work with high quality materials. what occurs with this panel when they are usually much bigger when we have them on buildings.

it's a sealed box it has copper piping the header and the rise or and the metal in between and we circulate water through it a gallon per minute per panel and we collect the heat during the day and this gets hot like your car would on a hot day of the it's a sealed box. it's a cell tifl simple concept. it does have a very fancy, for lack of a better term, surface or coating called black chrome a hi emitant coating so it retains the heat that gets to t. that's the basic model of a flat plate solar panel. >> how much do these rigs cost? >> this sample is simply a sample, of course. by can and large after tax probably per panel we are pushing with the price of

copper, 8-900 dollars. >> how many panels people need to do one of these typical san francisco home? >> we have quite a few we put in homes we do one or 24 by 8 or one 4 by 10 with a storage tank of approximately depending on the number of people in the home, 80-120 gallons. as a general rule we figure 15 gallons of hot water per day per person. we add up the number of people in the building and that tells us how much water storage we need. we extrapulate how much solar panels we need. it's anywhere between one square foot of solar panel to 1.5 to 2 gallons of water. once we know how much wart we

need to heat we can determine how much solar panel we need. >> you use it for radiant heat in your home? >> you can. what we do in that case rart than running water through the solar panel, which here in san francisco we are able to do because we have a temperate climate and it freezes see rarely. if you use for radiant we will use a transfer fluid a food grade glycool that flows through the heat exchanger that's transient through the low pressure system. we have to make sure the different bodies of waters don't commingled. we heat one and transfer the heat from the one to another. there are applications anything on now with radiant so pap lar. >> what is radiant heat?

where you take a fluid or warmed liquid and run it through pipes in the floor? >> this is a solar heat exchanger it's capturing the sun's heat where the radiant is distributing or sending it to the storage device and having piping in your floor, which is a nice way to heat because it's dust free environment and it's become all the rage these days. >> doesn't sound like an easy retrofit. >> that's true it's during a remotsd or new home. >> are people putting on wall panels and running the heat through a wall panel. >> you can do it that way. to divide the solar heating nowadays solar thermal to

domestic hot water or space heating we can use it to heat pools in san francisco there are not that many applications. you can run the hot water through thin tubes like base board tubes or fan coil systems there is one from chill chaser f from england. you run it through the loop and it heats the room. it's a slow recovery process you want to leave it on with a timer you want to heat the room for when you come home it's not forced air where you flip it on. >> how much they have 4 people hanging around. >> right. >> with the kids. how much does it cost approximately within a thousand dollars.

>> there is a 2 thousand dollar tax credit currently for solar water heating much the installations, depending on the type and size will rank 5-6 or 8-9 thousand dollars. in san francisco we have complicated roofs and homes. after all is said and done people are paying may be between 4-6 thousand dollars for from start to finish a total solar water heating system to your home. >> what's the life cycle and cost savings? >> the cost savings really it's all about how much hot water you use. if you use a lot it accelerates the savings. there's 10 with the credits we have currently we are looking at 10-15 year pay back. however, you are also doing other things that are enhancing the value of our home and

without having to be assessed by the tax assessor for the increase in value. >> i understand is a state law. >> it is a state law. >> that you don't have your taxes raised by doing energy or green building improvements? >> you will have more hot water available at any one time. if you have a tank and you have teenagers that water gets used up. you will go home and there will be 80 gallons that are preheated. we are preheating. you are heating a body of water in front of the regular gas water heater. if the weather is good the solar heated water goes to the regular gas water and blends and reduces the amount of work that the gas water heater has to do. therefore, extending the life of the gas water heater as well. there are other hidden benefits and savings. >> good.

>> let's look at solar tv. this is the hottest thing in town. solar tv. this is pretty heavy duty. they are solid. they have come far. years ago it was for remote locations or urt space. now the prices have dropped the technology to convert solar electricity to usable household electricity has taken great leaps and bounds. there are a lot of folks doing it now. there is a process you can go through that the building department will assess your design and make sure it's sound and attached properly. we put a lot of these. usually they are bigger than this, on your roof. then; we run that back into our electric panel and will, if you are away during the day or not using electricity at home your

meter will spin backwards. when you come home and you turn on the power, then, it will spin forward. you are crediting you are treeth pg and e like a gient battery. i had a question about the integrated systems that go on roofs ones built in roof system. >> with the stuff what we refer to as a thin film the ahead of the future of solar where you hear talk about nano solar where impr put materials. it's half it's the same price per watt. you need twice the surface area. oftentimes the person will call us and say i would like to have

this because this is a preferred item and we show them that in that given square footage we can make a lot more electricity they say, okay. i going for the cystalin cells. >> a lot of wait and see what happens with technology because it's driving the prices down. what's happening with the price change? gi think the prices will come down but i don't think it will be a big drop. >> there is a state law passed said that cities and counties like san francisco cannot restrict the insulation of solar electric or other energy saving devices for any reason other than health and safety reasons, there are issues how that effects historic buildings and other types of planning

nonconforming heights. the state as well as our mayor and other people are saying, you know, open the throttle on this. we are working very hard to push solar as well as, i guess, hot water heating as we talked about. although that is not pushed too hard yet. >> a precautionary neat having been banging around in the industry in the city since 1980 is that one doesn't want to sacrifice quality. we saw in the last solar boom, a lot of people get in the game and a lot of systems, go in on the quick and in the end you have to pay for that. you do -- make sure you have somebody that's got a great track record and make sure things will stay on the roof. >> questions about solar now that we have our experts here? >> any last little items we want to talk about.

we have a table full of stuff, energy savings? >> we have folks in the audience that know about green building they brought an aray of things like beautiful, colorful different kinds of linoleum, it's not made from petroleum it's made from natural oils and has a lot of benefits. they lost longer. the department of the environment provides services on homeowners, including information, consultation, they have a table at the department of building inspection every week or 2. where they provide information. they also have hand outs and one is this great book called, build it green. which is a guide to home green remodeling which has a check

list if you are doing home remodeling it gives you ideas on what you should look for in plumbing and heating. you can get copies of these by calling the department of the environment. they also have a great display in your lobby e. what's the address? 11 grove street. right across from the main library. >> the main library. >> i want to mention that the pacific energy center on howard? >> 851 howard street. >> they have classes and displaces and lots of terrific information that pg and e puts out for the public dp design professionals they have a website that talks about their many, many classes. >> it's paid for by your utility dollars it's part of your gas and electric bill you have paid for it go down and use it. >> we are going to talk about

green building stuff over the next year or 2 in our brown bag lunches. in the building department we have lectures and trainings if you need information you can call us 558-5605. thank you for coming and i will see you next month. thank you.

within our population there are people who simply do not have access to the internet, who do not have the means to access information the way that others have, and i think that it's really imperative for government to make sure that we play a role in closing that technological divide. so you have to strike that balance between maintaining that character, but also welcoming in the new people who bring their own -- >> absolutely. >> so i love that. i love that mix, that balance that comes with it. it's hard to strike the right balance, but -- >> it really is. >> but it's there. >> i was born in guatemala and came to this country as a kid. i was brought here by my parents. and essentially grew up in l.a. and then moved up to the bay area, where i went to college. i went to stanford.

my background for the first few years out of school was a practicing attorney. i worked for -- in the private sector for a number of years and then i went and worked for the city as a deputy city attorney and then became general council of the school district here in san francisco, and through that became involved in politics and at some point decided to run for office. [speaking spanish] >> i think that san francisco

really represents the best that this country has to offer. it's a place that welcomes people from all over the world, from all over the country, and it's a place that not only tolerates, but actually embraces diversity, a place that is very forward thinking in terms of how it looks at issues. it always felt like home, and i felt that as a gala tino man that this -- gay la taken no man, that this is a place where i could be happy. now doing the job of a supervisor has been the most rewarding experience. it is really remarkable how amazing our neighborhoods are, how amazing its people are. i have a progressive outlook in terms of how i see things, and by progressive i mean we have to make government and make the city work for everyone, and that means that it's not just those who are doing well, it's also those who are not doing so well, those who have the least. but it also means making sure that the city works for the middle class. >> good evening, everyone. good evening. thank you all for being here. and when we first got into office about two years ago, we

started talking to the mayor's office of workforce and economic development and trying to figure out how we can help different corridors within our district have a better sense of what that neighborhood should look like, what its main concerns and priorities should be and a strategy for the community. and that means business, residents and the city working together to make whatever that vision is a reality. ultimately if there is a guidance on how i approach government, i believe in good government, i believe in transparency, i believe in accountability, i believe in making sure that we follow best practices. i think that oftentimes transcends the left, the middle and the right. it goes beyond that. and that's why as a supervisor i focus so much on contracts and how the city spends its

money, which is not traditionally a progressive issue. but i believe that we have an obligation to make every penny count. thank you. [applause] we are still going through a very tough economic time. we are still not where we need to be in terms of job creation and economic development. so government, i think, has to work with a lot of different folks, not only the business community, but also the community groups to see how we can create economic development that works for every san franciscans. >> one of the topics is -- [inaudible] >> as a member of the police commission, i learned that the most effective policing is the policing where you have the

police and the community working together. so you need training for the police officer who's already there. it is important to have police officers on the street and having that police presence, but at the same time, there has to be a connection between the police and the community. so i think we're on the same page. you have to make sure that you create an atmosphere where people feel safe, and i think that to feel safe they have to feel like they're in partnership. i really believe that when you are blessed with the opportunities that this country gives you, that you have an obligation to give back. i really believe in public service. i could be in the private sector and make a lot of money, but i believe that i have a duty to try to make things better for other people and to pay back to a country that has given me so much.