This exquisitely-crafted zero net energy home, recently verified a HERS (-3), is located in the foothills just west of Denver, Colorado. It is designed in a traditional southwest adobe style, but hidden within natural finishes and sustainably-harvested log forms the home boasts the best techniques and technologies in high-performance home construction.
From finely-tuned fiberglass windows with orientation-specific combinations of advanced Heat Mirror glazing to the use of natural and reclaimed products, this home is as green and high-performing as we could make it. Located at 7,700 feet in Evergreen, Colorado, the cold and windy site conditions challenge high performance home construction, but despite these conditions, the home was confirmed at HERS -3, meaning that the home produces more energy than it consumes!
The Evergreen Zero Net Energy Home was beautifully designed by Thomas Doerr of Doerr Architecture.
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Location: Evergreen, Colorado
Elevation: 7,700 Feet
SF: 3,500 ft2 conditioned space
Year Completed: 2008
Projected HERS Performance: -3
Confirmed HERS Index: -3
Electricity
Grid-tied 10 kW ground-mounted PV array, producing 14,400 kWh per year with expected household consumption at 12,500 kWh per year
Primary Heat Source
Passive solar gain through south glazing
Backup Heat Source
Hydronic forced-air provided by fan coil in ducts that uses solar-heated water to tranfer heat to the fresh air stream. Solar hot water tank backed up by gas boiler.
Primary Hot Water Source
240 evacuated tubes
Solar Thermal Storage
1200 gallon stainless steel tank (photos) insulated with 13″ open-cell foam on all sides
Air Handling Unit
Enerboss 710 Series with integral ERV and hydronic fan coil
Passive Cooling
Cool air in summer is achieved by opening 8 windows electronically every evening, filling the house with mountain cool air, and closing them in the morning.
Exterior Walls
(Outside to inside) 1″ EPS foam + 2×6 studs + 1.5″ resilient channel + 2 layers drywall + 7″ Icynene spray foam in cavity = R-30 (photos)
Roof
12″ Icynene on underside of flat roof = R-45
Exterior Finish
TexSton limestone finish
Foundation
4″ max. fly-ash concrete slab-on-grade on top of 4″ EPS insulation
Windows
Duxton fiberglass windows with directionally-tuned Heat Mirror glazing by Serious Windows (formerly Alpen Energy Group)
- Construction Photos (Flickr)
- Finished Photos (Flickr)
- HERS Certificate (PDF)
- Housewarming Event Photos (Flickr)
- LIVE! Energy Monitoring
- Letter-size home profile (PDF)
Taking lessons from our flagship ZNE home, Solar Harvest, Ecofutures is building and retrofitting a number of new homes each year with a zero energy goal. We are regularly tracking the specifications and performance of each homes’ ZNE features for the sake of comparison and education. View the ZNE Comparison Chart.
Want to see how the home is performing right this minute? Check out its live Web Energy Logger (WEL) installed by Sunnyside Solar Colorado.
Ready to learn more about us? Read about our whole-systems approach to building and why we should be your choice for a new or retrofitted zero net energy home. Don’t take our word for it, though. Check out what our clients have to say about us.
