IBEW Local 332—The “Photovoltaic Local”

by Greg Kerwin

An electricians’ union local in San Jose, California, spearheads a solar movement in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley is known for a lot of things—microchips, semiconductors, software, biotech, telecoms, dot-coms—but solar energy?

Thanks to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 332, a 2500+ member union headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, you can add solar energy to the list of technologies now driving America’s high tech capital.

The name IBEW is usually associated with electricians who install high-power generators and other electrical infrastructure for big public and commercial buildings. But in Silicon Valley, the IBEW is becoming just as well known for its devotion to making solar energy a viable alternative.

What better evidence is there than IBEW Local 332’s new 29,200 square foot, $8 million meeting and dispatch hall in San Jose, powered by a 47 kW photovoltaic system installed by the union’s own membership. The hall is designated an official green building model by the city of San Jose, and has opened its doors for tours to the general public. In June, it received the Innovation in Building Award from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council.

The story of how Local 332 decided to go solar for its own headquarters—and build Silicon Valley’s first large commercial solar-powered building—is a fascinating tale of dedication, pragmatism and vision. The project was spearheaded by Local 332’s Building Committee, chaired by Union Organizer Jay James, a longtime progressive and community activist who cut his teeth on the social justice and environmental movements decades ago. Other building committee members, including Richard Perez, Bruce Ramirez, Chap Power, Art Hammond, Pete Reyes and Ken Culbertson, also pushed for solar, and lobbied the membership to make solar energy a reality on the building. Local 332 is the largest IBEW local in northern California and the second largest in the state.

The Union’s Solar Future
“When we started plans to build a new union hall, we designed it for solar as a way of giving back to the environment and to the community,” says James, who also served as project coordinator on the building’s construction. “It’s the right thing to do, plus it’s an area that’s growing by leaps and bounds, where our members will find plenty of work in the future.”

The union hall’s 47 kW photovoltaic solar power system generates enough power to meet 60 to 70 percent of the building’s total electricity load. The use of solar photovoltaics cuts the facility’s utility bill in half—and allows Local 332 to send power back to the utility grid. The independent power system also insulates the building against loss of power from the grid in the event of a blackout, as well as from fluctuations in the price of electricity.

James said the Building Committee was motivated not only by practicality and deeply-held convictions about the viability of solar energy, but also by a directive from the International’s Washington headquarters to make the development of solar energy a top priority.

“There is a growing consensus that distributed PV systems that provide electricity at the point of use will be the first to reach widespread commercialization,” explains Mark Ayers, National IBEW director of Construction and Maintenance.

“The solar power industry is growing 40 percent annually worldwide,” according to Jay James. “Many buildings in the 21st Century will be constructed to produce at least some, and eventually all, of their own energy. The IBEW will be fully prepared to assume a leadership role in solar technology.”

IBEW Local 332’s membership and the Local’s Building Committee made a commitment to install photovoltaic during the union hall’s pre-planning phase.

“We view photovoltaics as an energy technology, as well as an incubating sector for skilled electrical workers,” said Terry Tanner, Business Manager of Local 332. “We think we have some responsibility for educating the public about solar. So, as part of the educational process, we’ve opened the building up for public tours. So far, about 1000 people have toured our solar facilities.”

The Local’s timing in building the solar powered union hall could not have been better.

Rolling blackouts hit California during the summer of 2000, when the hall was beginning construction. Energy independence, conservation and finding renewable sources of energy became new priorities for all Californians. And the union and its building committee found themselves at the forefront of the solar movement in Silicon Valley.

Local 332’s interest in solar also had its roots in the union’s longtime interest in the support of progressive causes, including the environment. Solar has been seeded in California through the work of home-grown environmental advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, the Earth Island Institute and the League of Conservation Voters.

The early interest in solar in California has made the state the U.S. leader in deploying medium- and large-scale solar photovoltaic arrays on public and private buildings. A utility-scale 3.9 MW array near the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear power plant in the Central Valley is operated by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Just last year, San Francisco voters passed a $100 million bond measure to put solar photovoltaics on government buildings.

Building Integrated Solar
In the planning stages, Jay James and the Building Committee brought in solar experts to advise on the project. “We showed them what’s happening in Europe and Japan as well as what’s beginning to happen in the U.S.,” says Steven Strong, President of Solar Design Associates in Harvard, Massachusetts. “The membership voted overwhelmingly to install PV on their building. The IBEW has come to see the importance of distributed on-site electricity generation, using renewable energy sources such as solar, as part of their future.”

The IBEW also consulted The San Luis Sustainability Group (SLGS), a sustainable architecture firm. SLGS, a central California company, presented the first design of the new union hall. Many of the firm’s original ideas have been incorporated into the building.

Founded by two architecture professors at California Polytechnic State University, SLGS is known as one of the leading advisors on solar in western states. The two principals are Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper. Cooper continues to teach part time at Cal Poly, but Haggard, an Emeritus Professor, retired to work full time for SLGS.

Haggard and Cooper’s design for IBEW Local 332 included a doughnut-shaped building with a covered interior atrium. Haggard and Cooper placed normal PV panels on the solid roof and covered the atrium with a new thin-film photovoltaic technology that is sprayed onto glass and then partially etched away. The semi-translucent film both generates power and admits sunlight.

“The translucent skylight is a splashy application of solar technology,” says Haggard. “I told them, ‘You’re the logical guys to do this—it should be on the electrical workers’ union hall, if anywhere!’”

The Building Committee scaled the design down because of expense, and instead opted for individual skylights with PV coatings that are installed over the open office areas for daylighting. The skylights pull natural sunlight in to save electric light costs while generating power.

Haggard and Cooper also recommended the use of an awning on the south side of the building that was incorporated into the final design. The awning serves double duty. Angled to the sun to shade the southern façade, it’s built with PV panels to produce electricity while keeping the building cool.

“Ken Haggard gave us a good direction for what we might want to do with the solar part of our building,” said Jay James. “He came up with a term that was brand new to us—BIPV, for building integrated photovoltaics. In other words, when you design your building, design the photovoltaics right in your building, as opposed to building your building and then deciding later on to add photovoltaics to it. Because then it doesn’t look like it’s part of the building. Our skylights look like they’re part of the building. Our sunshades look like they’re part of the building.”

Architectural Advantages
Architect of record Anderson Brulé Architects, Inc. of San Jose prepared the building’s final design. “Building integrated photovoltaics have many advantages over solar panels that are just bolted on,” says architect Brad Cox of Anderson Brulé. “For one thing, they look better as a physical part of the architecture.”

In addition, the IBEW gets more value for its money with the building integrated solar. As electricians, they’ve made a commitment to this source of energy, so the installation has educational value.

“The solar components also take the place of other architectural elements while producing energy, so the costs for a conventional awning on the south side and for insulation on the roof are offset by the PV awning panels and the insulated PV panels on the roof,” Cox says. “The union is getting additional value from the solar elements on top of the high value of the energy.”

The main array on the roof of the union hall is composed of PowerGuard™ tiles, manufactured by PowerLight of Berkeley, California. PowerGuard tiles are conventional photovoltaic cells laminated to modular panels of rigid polystyrene foam insulation. The combination keeps the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter while generating power.

Solar Trendsetters
In the planning phases, Toenisketter and Breeding, the general contractor, questioned the use of building-integrated photovoltaics. Then the summer 2000 blackouts hit—and the contractor soon dropped its objections.

The only snag to completing the solar installation was the unexpected difficulty in obtaining PV panels in late 2000. Photovoltaic suppliers ran low on panels. Not only was U.S. demand rising, but most domestically-produced PV panels were typically shipped overseas to Europe and Japan, where demand for solar installations (in relatively dark, dreary climates compared to the western U.S.) is high.

As construction got underway, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales appointed Jay James of Local 332 to the city’s Green Building Task Force. San Jose knew it wanted to establish guidelines for sustainable building and renewable energy resources, and the city brought James on board to help set the standards. In June of 2001 new Green Building guidelines were passed by the Task Force, and they became effective in January 2002.

Mary Tucker, chair of the Green Building Task Force, used the IBEW’s solar hall as a Green Building pilot project for the City of San Jose. There were no monetary benefits involved, just civic support for the union’s efforts to put solar on their building.

Solar a Priority
“With this building, we show the general public what the electrical workers do for a living, and what we will be doing in the future,” says Terry Tanner, Business Manager for IBEW Local 332. “It’s obvious that our power needs in the future are going to depend on some form of renewable energy. The solar union hall was not built on a business decision, on some huge payback. We put solar in the building because it’s work that we do—and it’s the wave of the future. It’s obvious that we’re not going to be able to depend on fossil fuel and natural gas forever.”

The Local is using its headquarters as a training facility for IBEW members interested in learning how to install state-of-the-art photovoltaic solar power. Even before installing solar on their own headquarters, electricians from Local 332 had put solar on their active agenda.

In 1998 the union donated photovoltaic panels to the San Jose Joint Apprenticeship Training Center (JATC), which is jointly owned by the IBEW and the National Electrical Contractors Association. Local 332 members installed the center’s 2000 watt PV system on the training center’s roof.

Union training also stresses solar. Union classes called “Sunology” are presented for licensed electricians at the JATC. Over 500 members of Local 332 are graduates of the class.

“I haven’t had a member come here yet who hasn’t been in awe of the building,” says Terry Tanner. “It’s theirs, it’s paid for. I think they’re extremely proud of the building. It was an expensive item. If anybody’s installing solar, it should be the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.”

Teaching by Example
Almost 1000 individuals have toured the solar union hall since it opened. Recently 20 members of the Hewlett-Packard Foundation toured the facility and used its meeting room for a sustainability workshop.

Building engineers and facilities managers frequently tour the solar installation in groups ranging from 12 to 50. Members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have toured the solar facility, and Intel, the Valley Transit Authority, San Jose City College and the Solar Consortium have also sponsored tours. And many middle and high school students have toured Silicon Valley’s first large commercial solar building. IBEW Local 322 is happy about all the attention, and pleased that their decision to go solar is proving to be an inspiration to others in their community.

Greg Kerwin is a Senior Associate at Ann Hill Communications, 77 Mark Drive, Suite 3, San Rafael, California 94903, (415) 491-5901, FAX (415) 491-5903, e-mail: greg@ahcommunications.com, web site: www.ahcommunications.com.

Meter Runs Backward
Under California’s net metering law, IBEW Local 322 is credited for power it sends into the local utility grid. When on one is using the building, the rooftop PV array sends electricity back to the grid, and the meter runs backward. Local 322 is credited at the end of the year if it generates more electricity than it uses.

Local 322 was motivated not only by practicality and deeply-held convictions about the viability of solar energy, but also by a directive from the International’s Washington headquarters to make the development of solar energy a top priority.

DESIGN TEAM

IBEW Local 332
Terry Tanner, Business Manager
Gerald Pfeiffer, President

Building Committee
Jay James, Chairman
Richard Perez
Bruce Ramirez
Chap Power
Art Hammond
Pete Reyes
Ken Culbertson

Solar Consultant
Solar Design Associates
Stephen Strong, President
Robert Erb, Consultant
Harvard, Massachusetts

City of San Jose
Mary Tucker
Supervising Environmental Services Specialist
Environmental Services Department
Green Building Task Force
San Jose, California

Electrical Contractor
SASCO Electric, Inc.
Roy Lusk, Project Manager
Santa Clara, California

General Contractor
Toeniskoetter & Breeding Inc.
Chuck Toeniskoetter, CEO

Architect
Brett Cox
Anderson Brulé Architects
San Jose, California

Manufacturers
PowerLight Corporation
PowerGuard photovoltaic assembly
Janice Lin, Director of Business Development, Berkeley, California
BP Solar
Laser-etched semi-translucent photovoltaic panels
Mack Moore, Director, Building and Utility Products
Fairfield, California