Green Living in Oakland: 611 EcoVillage

611 street view

Yep, it’s possible, and 611 EcoVillage is the proof: you can live sustainably, and artfully, and even happily, all in the middle of a city.

Of course, it helps if you’ve got founder/builder Dan Antonioli’s temperament: love for life and a passion for creative construction. And it helps even more that he’s done it first, because now you can follow his lead. So let’s see what he’s done, shall we?

611 is a sort of eco-tastic rooming house created from two neighboring buildings in Oakland’s “ghost town” (the area between freeways and BART, Temescal and West Oakland). From the outside, it looks like any other place, but as soon as you pass through the gate you can see differences.

yum, compost

First off: two big compost bins. Dan admits with a grin that he likes to geek out on compost; you can get pretty into soil decomposition if you’re so inclined, and he’s got the great dirt to prove it. The bins take up barely any space in the courtyard and emit only the teensiest whiff of blecch, which is a great thing considering that this is also the common area/party zone.

Speaking of which, what’s that over there? Why, it’s a hot tub! Everybody loves a hot tub, but we all know they drain huge amounts of energy. So how do you get away with having one in a “green” household? By sheer ingenuity, apparently.

the incredible solar hot tub!

This tub is solar-heated. Water is pumped up to the roof and past the solar panels. There, it gets super-hot very quickly, and drops back down into the tub. Dan shows me the current panel temperature: 110° on a cloudy day in February. The heater (like what’s found in standard models) only runs a few minutes; the panels do the rest. 611’s tub gets heavy use (“because God forbid we should go a day without using the hot tub”) but still costs less than $10 a month to run.

Yep, $10 a month. Beat that.

Indoors, Dan—along with the other members of 611, who all contribute—has achieved a great mix of restoration, design, and environmentalism.

The best thing about living in this house is how non-toxic it is: low-VOC paints (meaning there are little to no volatile compounds, making little to no chemical reactions), water-based wood finishes, natural plasters. The EPA makes it clear that the highly-toxic paints & treatments used in most houses can make us sick; in this house, you’ve simply got a better chance of staying healthy.

And it’s beautiful, too. All the original trim has been preserved, along with a rare antique hearth, high ceilings, and plenty of original touches. The kitchen stove is old-fashioned, but for good reason: the oven lights with a sparker, instead of using much-less-efficient radiant heat glowbars. A lot of the elements in this house, Dan explains, were expensive and hard to find; things like water-based wood finish are actually less durable than what’s normally used. But the house is non-toxic, aesthetically pleasing, and ultimately more efficient.

The natural plasters are my personal favorite feature of this house. By experimenting with different clays, different meshes of sand, and natural pigments from all over the world, you can get just about any color and look you want.

But enough with the indoors! The clouds are breaking, so let’s go to the roof.

roof garden

Up on the third floor, the roof has been transformed into a garden/sundeck. Today it’s cloudy and a bit chilly, but in the summer it’s the perfect place to hang out (and hang the laundry). The height is just right to be able to look out over the rooftops and freeways, and remember that you’re on planet Earth. A tiny little mental escape from the city. I wave at the cars as they zoom past on the freeway.

The plants throughout 611 are being switched around: Dan is in the process of introducing more drought-tolerant varieties from Berkeley Horticultural. If the dry weather continues, thirsty plants like bamboo just won’t be a good choice; it’s time to revisit native, indigenous and hardy varieties. Ultimately, this rooftop garden can offset the footprint of the house.

The deck itself, along with all the materials used in 611’s improvements, is made from salvaged and sustainably-harvested materials. Urban Ore is a big supply source, and lumber can be had from Earthsource and from a small, sustainable family mill up North. Procuring green building materials used to be much more difficult, and Dan ended up hoarding things he might need; these days, though, you can buy green materials at Ashby Lumber and many other larger suppliers.

Dan!

shamless promotion

Dan’s been living and building at 611 for nine years. He does a lot of outside work besides; maybe I’m a little biased here, but I’d say you should definitely hire him to “green” your house. Or if you don’t have a house, why not check out the Laytonville EcoVillage, where you can live in actual nature as part of an intentional neighborhood?

More on Laytonville soon; for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour. I know I did, and I can definitely say I’m more inspired now by the possibility of an eco-friendly existence even inside the city limits.

Next week, we’ll head to Los Angeles for a bit more ecovillage exploration. See you there.

PS – Want more tour of 611? Get it here.