Earth-friendly house in works

Richard Dreyfuss stands in the driveway of the home in Olivenhain that he and his wife plan to improve. (Charlie Neuman / Union-Tribune) -

A rendering depicts what Richard and Svetlana Dreyfuss' renovated home will look like. (Courtesy of Deep Blue Prints)

Richard Dreyfuss (far right, facing camera) toured the back patio area of his home in Olivenhain with architects, representatives of SDG&E and others involved in the project. (Charlie Neuman / Union-Tribune)

ENCINITAS — Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss has a new role: land baron.

As a longtime city dweller, Dreyfuss said owning a home on 1.2 acres in Encinitas makes him feel “like a combination of Jed Clampett and Ariel Sharon.”

Dreyfuss and his wife of three years, Svetlana, bought the 4,830-square-foot house last year, knowing it would require major work. They are now preparing to renovate the 1970s structure with state-of-the-art technologies to save energy and water.

San Diego Gas & Electric has chosen the innovative renovation project as one of three case studies so far for its countywide Advanced Home program.

With mud-colored shag carpeting, nondescript shingled roof and a too-small swimming pool partially full of green muck, it hardly qualifies as a dream house.

The Dreyfusses plan to strip it down to its studs and beams, then build it up with technology, such as computer-monitored solar panels and foil insulation, in the hope of generating its energy on site and minimizing water use.

“We had two goals: Get off the grid as soon as possible, and make of the home what the home itself wanted to be,” Richard Dreyfuss, 61, said in a recent interview.

“The house as we bought it was in a state of no state. It's like a piece of clay that you can make something of.”

Cutting the electric bill to zero won't be easy for a home that will include a new guesthouse, a trellis of grapevines and a Jacuzzi the size of a swimming pool with heated waterfalls.

There will be a two-story library for Dreyfuss'15,000-volume book collection, with a hidden panel leading to a secret room. The renovation also will add a master bedroom and bath, and private offices, making it a total of 6,000 square feet.

'It's like a science lab'

Dreyfuss is working with the San Diego firm S.K.I.N., which specializes in sustainable design. The company, co-owned by Deniece Duscheone and Christopher Maresca, won awards for its $52 million renovation of the US Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego, a luxurious yet energy-efficient project that Dreyfuss admires.

“It's really fun to take a residential project and do a conversion,” Duscheone said. “It's like a science lab.”

She is trying to keep the cost under $1 million.

Under a permit application submitted to Encinitas in December, the improvements will include solar panels on the roof and trellises. The house will be cocooned in a thin layer of reflective foil insulation, and will harness geothermal energy from underground.

When it rains, two water wheels will produce energy from runoff flowing into an underground cistern, where it will be stored for irrigation. Landscaping will include low-water plants and synthetic turf.

'I am a citizen'

Dreyfuss isn't one of those celebrities known for environmental activism and he doesn't drive a Toyota Prius – he has a Honda Accord and is eyeing a $20,000 Austin Mini-Cooper – but he likes the idea of achieving “net zero” energy consumption and is concerned about U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

“I don't think of myself as an environmental guy. I am a citizen,” he said. “And it's a big difference.”

Dreyfuss and Russian-born Svetlana Erokhin married in 2006 and have lived in San Diego County since then, although they travel frequently to Los Angeles and London, cities Richard Dreyfuss once called home. They initially lived in Carlsbad. In February 2008, they bought the $1.5 million house in the rural community of Olivenhain in eastern Encinitas.

Svetlana, 48, said she supports her husband's idea of living off the grid and having a “smart house” that requires little maintenance, water or power.

The couple have a tag-team way of conversing: He loses his train of thought in tangents about the Enlightenment, Abu Ghraib and the economy (he thinks we're in a depression); she interrupts him and attempts to summarize their thoughts on the topic at hand.

Living in harmony

“I would like to make everything more simple,” she said, enunciating each syllable in her husky, distinctly Russian-accented voice. “Start with house. Put money in at the beginning and work with Mother Nature the right way.”

Dreyfuss isn't shy about his affection for his wife, gazing at her admiringly as she talks.

She said: “A house, it's like living body, and you have to live in harmony.”

Dreyfuss has appeared in more than 50 movies and numerous theater and television roles. He won an Academy Award for best actor for 1977's “The Goodbye Girl,” and was nominated in the same category for 1995's “Mr. Holland's Opus.”

His most recent film was last year's “W.,” about the life of George W. Bush, in which he played an eerily accurate Vice President Dick Cheney. His next film is “My Life in Ruins,” a romantic comedy due out in May.

Dreyfuss now travels the world promoting civics education, which includes a lecture series at San Diego State University. He believes that people are not engaged and informed about government or basic matters of life, including home renovation. He is pleased about being selected as an SDG&E; case study because others will be able to learn from his experiences.

The renovation has a side benefit, they said, bringing the couple closer as they sort out their differing tastes.

“She has a kind of Russian-French-Catherine the Great thing going on,” Dreyfuss said. “I'm a California arts-and-crafts person.

“We're learning how to marry those tastes into one.”

Union-Tribune researchers Michelle Gilchrist and Merrie Monteagudo contributed to this report.

Tanya Mannes: (619) 498-6639; tanya.mannes@uniontrib.com

Tanya Mannes: (619) 498-6639; (Contact)

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