Green Success Story puts John Sarter, West Coast Operations and Relations Lead for dcbel, in the Green Spotlight. We discussed the award-winning sustainable passive house design and building firm he’s led for over 40 years, his pioneering efforts in the success of the bidirectional EV charging “Beacon Project,” how it led him to work on bringing dcbel’s evolutionary technology into the built environment, and the potential of this technology to rapidly and simultaneously decarbonize the built environment, transportation sector and energy sector.
Tell us a bit about your sustainability journey.
I’ve owned and operated a sustainable Design/Build firm in the North SF Bay Area for over 40 years. My work led me to Passive House design and methodology which I now implement in all projects I undertake. One project in particular was a huge undertaking for me. It was my first multi-unit project, first project in San Francisco, and first Passive House Certified project. Sol Lux Alpha is a 6 story, 4 unit condominium project that generates roughly twice the energy it needs from its rooftop solar trellis over the common deck space on the roof. We completed the project in 2018, and it won the 2018 DOE Housing Innovation Award for multi-family, and the PHIUS Best Overall Project of the Year.
One of the elements I integrated into that landmark “Beacon Project”, was wiring for “bidirectional EV charging”. This would allow the residents to use their excess energy generation to power their EV’s for around 14,000 miles of driving per year, OR to use their EV’s as well as the 12 Tesla Powerwalls we integrated to power their homes and/or export energy to the grid for monetization.
I integrated this wiring into the project even though the technology for it did not yet exist in the USA, though some technologists were moving this direction in more advanced nations such as Japan. I knew it would come, and my goal was to be a pioneer in the integration of this technology into the built environment.
Through this project I was introduced to the founders of “dcbel”, who were in the process of developing this revolutionary technology for the North American market and the global market as well. The founders were impressed by my work and my advocacy for their technology and said “one day we will make an honest man out of you and bring you on board our team”. I took this as a compliment, but also with a grain of salt.
Lo and behold, a couple years later they made good on their word and hired me on to the dcbel team! I am now more than ever focused on bringing their amazing and evolutionary technology into the built environment. It has great potential to rapidly decarbonize the built environment, transportation, and energy sectors simultaneously.
The energy storage capacity of the roughly 1.2 million EV’s currently in California is approximately 72,000 MWh (mega Watt hours). That is 22 times the size of the largest grid scale energy storage project in existence today, and those “mobile” energy reserves are right where they are needed, at our homes and businesses! As the number of EV’s increases in California and globally, the energy storage capacity will increase exponentially, allowing societies to store increasingly vast amounts of renewable energy for use when needed.
Tell us a bit about the product or solution you offer.
dcbel’s technology is a powerful 15.2 kW solar inverter + 2 port bidirectional EV charger + Home Energy Management System (HEMS), which allows your solar to DC charge your EV(s) to full capacity, then use the energy in your EV(s) to power your home and/or export energy to the grid.
By doing so, your home and EV can easily become ZNE, (zero net energy), and the excess renewable energy you generate and export to the grid helps the grid use more renewable energy as well. As more and more households do this, our society can and will rapidly decarbonize.
The “energy independence” this enables for people is unprecedented. Imagine generating and having all the energy you need for your home, your transportation, your life; all within your electric vehicle!
Share a green success story with us – how have you helped customers or other businesses in the fight against climate change?
My work in the built environment has shown how it is possible to use far less energy in homes and businesses, through utilization of Passive House technologies and methodologies. By using less energy, we are empowered to have excess energy we can generate at home for EV mobility, and for the grid. Now by utilizing bidirectional EV technology, we are able to store all the renewable energy we need for our homes, transportation, and for the grid as a whole. Decarbonization of these three sectors represents an approximate 70% reduction of green house gases in our societies. This technology is the closest thing to a “silver bullet” for climate change that the world has ever realized.
What would you do with $1 billion dollars?
If I was granted one billion dollars, I would use it to accelerate the adoption of EVs and bidirectional EV technologies.
What do you envision your industry looking like in ten years?
In 10 years we will have a “sea change” like the transition from the horse and carriage to the automobile, seen in the early 1900’s. It took 13 years for cars to replace the horse and carriage, and I expect the EV revolution to occur even faster once society comprehends the energy freedom we can now achieve through bidirectional EV technology. It will be an “i phone” type moment in history I believe, as we now have access to a technology that we never knew we wanted and we need so very much, from the perspectives of convenience, freedom, savings, and combating climate change!
What would you like readers to take away from this article?
I’d like readers to consider how having a massive “battery on wheels” that they can tap into at any time and anywhere will improve their quality of life. You car can now deliver not only yourself, goods, services; but now also ENERGY to anywhere it is needed or desired!
How should readers get in touch with you and/or your organization?
I can be reached at: john.sarter@dcbel.energy
The company URL is: http://www.dcbel.energy
Kudos
Many thanks to John Sarter and dcbel. Green Success Stories is happy to support and highlight your efforts! We invite you the reader to do the same.
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