UC Berkeley Partnership with the Pinoleville-Pomo Nation

The Pinoleville-Pomo Nation is a Native American tribe located in Northern California. Since 2008, the Tribe has worked with UC Berkeley on several different projects, ranging from design of sustainable housing, to research into renewable energy production on Tribal Lands.

Tobias Schultz has worked closely with the PPN since he came to UCB; along with Yael Perez, he was a Team Lead in the co-design of sustainable housing, which culminated in a sustainable, culturally appropriate home design.

Currently Tobias' main work with the PPN focuses on the development of a renewable energy system on Tribal Lands in Ukiah and Lakeport, California. He is the Project Manager of a feasibility study which will be completed next year.

You can read more about this project, and the others Tobias has collaborated on, below.

Tribal Energy and Land Use (TELUS) Plan


Thanks to Francesca Francia for this image.

In the long-term, the PPN has a vision of full energy independence; to this end, the PPN has received funding from the Department of Energy to conduct a feasibility study for renewable energy production on Tribal lands in Ukiah and Lakeport.

The funds will be used to create conceptual designs for a renewable energy system composed of the following energy sources:

  • Micro-hydro
  • Geothermal electrical
  • Geothermal heat pumps
  • Biomass
  • Biogas
  • Solar electric and thermal
  • Wind power

Tobias will create recommended conceptual designs for the system, a cycle-based operations manual, preliminary maintenance estimates, and estimated greenhouse gas reductions and economic return-on-investment.

Tobias will serve as the Project Manager, and will work on in the development of the renewable energy plan with Ryan Shelby and several interns.

Sustainable Home Design

The PPN/UCB partnership began in Spring 2008, when students from a freshman design class met with members of the Tribe to assess the needs, and co-design sustainable housing that could be integrated into the tribal community. The result of this partnership was a roundhouse prototype design.

Along with Yael Perez, Tobias Schultz was a Team Leader on the student team Cares4Pomo, which over the course of the summer of 2009, refined the design produced by the freshman students. An image of a physical prototype of their refined design is shown below.

PPN Prototype Home

The house is designed with the highest standard of environmental sustainability and Pomo cultural values in mind, and will serve as an exemplar for future houses to be built on tribal lands across the country. The first home will be constructed in Ukiah, California in 2010; there are plans for the creation of five more homes based on this design, to be built in both Ukiah and Lakeport.

The home will include a breadth of sustainable features, including:

  • Straw bale insulation
  • Energy-efficient design
  • Geothermal heat pump
  • Solar photovoltaic array
  • Solar hot water collectors
  • Grey water irrigation
  • Composting toilets
  • Rain catchment

Tobias, with the help of several engineering interns, created cost estimates, environmental assessments, and conceptual designs for the engineered systems to be incorporated into the home.

People

PPN Prototype Home

Many people have worked along with Tobias during the UCB/PPN partnership. Here's a brief and incomplete list of everyone who has participated in the project.

  • Yael Perez
  • Ryan Shelby
  • Dr. Alice Agogino
  • Cindy Bayley
  • Tommy "Che" Liu
  • Yao Yuan
  • Bach-Tuyet Nguyen
  • David Rhoads
  • David Edmunds
  • Deborah Smith
  • Monica Brown
  • Angela James
  • Hector
  • Lenora Steele
  • Leona Williams

Thanks to Bob Ulibarri and Julian Berg.

Visit the website for the PPN/UCB partnership here.