What features should I consider when selecting a site for my dream home?
Innovative sun space used to heat water & home in Longmont, Colorado
We’re offering a special promotion through the ReDirect Guide
Sign up for the next FREE tour: Wednesday, August 18th

What features should I consider when selecting a site for my dream home?

Thinking about building your dream home?

One of the first major decisions to make is where to build.  Whether you are seeking ten acres in the country or an urban infill lot, the site you select will affect many other decisions in the design process.  The architect Frank Lloyd Wright used to camp overnight on a site before starting to design a home.  He felt it was the best way to experience the weather patterns and the nuances of the site first-hand.

There are many important aspects to consider during site selection.  This list will help you get started:

Natural Features

1. Topography – The slope of the site can affect your structural engineering costs, views, and the layout of the home.  It can also affect your access, as a steep driveway can be difficult to navigate in the winter.
2. Trees – Trees can provide useful shade and serve as a buffer from the wind.  They can also be expensive to remove if deemed necessary.
3. Soil – It is important to test the soil quality and structural strength to determine what type of foundation the home will need. Testing for groundwater is also important; if the water table is high, building a basement may not be feasible.
4. Solar – Hire a solar PV specialist to measure the site’s solar access and to determine its renewable energy potential.  If you are planning on installing a solar system, ensure that the roof will not be shaded by trees or other structures, and consider having the architect design the main roof line along the east/west axis, as this allows for the greatest southern roof exposure for optimum solar energy production.  Also check with the local utility provider to see if they offer incentives for solar PV and/or solar thermal.
5. Seasonal Considerations – Talk to neighbors to find out about local weather patterns. If the area experiences excess snow or wind, be sure that your site’s features will protect your home from the elements.

Municipal

1. Water source – If the site needs a water tap, contact the local building department to determine the tap fee.  If there isn’t a water line, the site will need a well.  Drilling a well can be expensive.
2. Electric/Phone/Cable – Contact local suppliers to verify that these amenities are readily-available and that signals are strong (particularly for cell phones).
3. Building Codes – The local building department can provide information on building height restrictions, utility location easements, and any other restrictions specific to the site.
4. HOA – If you are planning to build in an existing neighborhood, read the by-laws to learn what building styles are permitted.

Other

1. Local Seasonal Recreation – Research the prevalence of hunting, hiking, local festivals or other activities in the area.  These events can be disruptive and intrusive if they are frequent.
2. Neighbors – Spend some time on the site to ensure that you will be compatible with the existing neighbors.  Also find out if any trains can be heard.  Consider contacting the local building department about any future development plans in the area.
3. Title – Contact a reputable title company to confirm that the land will be sold free and clear of all liens.

Choosing a site should be done carefully and methodically.  The right site will make the design process simple and smooth; conversely, the wrong site will lead to complications, disappointment, and regret.  Don’t settle for anything less than perfect.  If you are building your dream house, you probably plan to stay in it for a long time.  Keep searching until you find the place where you can plant your roots and watch your dreams grow.

After you’ve purchased your dream site, consider contacting a design/build team, like Ecofutures, that can put you in touch with masterful architects that incorporate aesthetics and high-performance home techniques in their designs.

Innovative sunspace used to heat water & home in Longmont, CO

In any climate, the first step in home design and building is to harness what is most abundant.   In this region, that resource is the sun, and it is important to keep exploring ways to use the sun’s energy as the core strategy to future-proof our clients’ homes.

Solar thermal systems are a great way to use the sun’s energy to heat a home’s domestic water and contribute to space heating.  Typically, using flat plate solar thermal collectors, the radiant heat from the sun either heats the water passing through the panels directly, or it heats a glycol mixture that is piped through a water storage tank.  It’s best to place the collectors in direct sunlight, often on a roof, but what if that’s not possible?

At the near-zero net energy home we’re building in Longmont, a large photovoltaic system (used to generate solar electricity) covered the main roof, leaving only the garage roof available for a solar thermal system.  The clients preferred not to have solar thermal collectors visible above the ridge line of the garage, so a new home for them had to be found.

To solve this dilemma, Ecofutures devised a unique and relatively simple way to heat the water using a combination of direct gain and super-heated convective air surrounding the collectors.  At the back of the house behind the garage, facing south, a 38-foot long, three foot deep sunspace was built.  The floor and walls of the space were painted black to allow for more heat absorption.   Double pane low-iron windows with a solar heat gain coefficient of 0.82 were used, allowing the space to reach high temperatures (130˚F to date).  The six solar thermal collector panels are housed in the sunspace, and as the temperature in the room rises, the water in the panels is heated and fed into a 400 gallon storage tank.  From there, this heated water is used throughout the house for domestic purposes as well as for heating the outdoor hot tub.

This unique experimental system should provide the family will almost all their hot water needs.  During cold and cloudy weather snaps, a wall-mounted, high-efficiency gas boiler will supply any necessary additional heat.  Current estimates are that this backup heat will cost less than $5 per month at today’s natural gas prices.

During winter, in addition to heating the domestic water, the hot air in the sunspace will be pumped throughout the house, serving as the primary heating system.  The air handling unit that distributes the hot air from the sunspace is called an Enerboss.  This multi-talented unit has an Energy Recovery Ventilator for providing continuous fresh air, as well as a fan coil for backing up the space heating system.  For this backup, hot water from the boiler circulates through a radiator-type of material in the air stream, heating the air in a clean, non-static-creating way.

During the summer, the hot air in the sunspace will not contribute to the home’s cooling loads, since it’s located outside the thermal boundary of the home.  Hot air produced will be expelled through an exhaust pipe, but domestic hot water will still be captured.

As the home is not yet occupied, the system has yet to be fully tested.  It will be interesting to re-visit this home in a year, after we’ve collected full temperature and humidity data, as well as kWh and gas Therms consumed, to see how well the sunspace and its solar thermal collectors performed.  While this specialized design may not be suitable on a large scale at today’s energy prices and due to opinions regarding appearance, but it is anyone’s guess as to what will become acceptable, or even compelling and necessary, when energy costs escalate to a certain level (energy costs are cited as the second-most important factor in home foreclosures).

We’re offering a special promotion through the ReDirect Guide

Ecofutures is a member of the ReDirect Guide, the one-stop sustainable lifestyle directly and resource guide featuring hundreds of qualified, green and eco/earth-friend businesses and organization in the Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado region.  We are currently offering an iSaveGreen coupon for $250 off of Design Services for your custom high performance home or deep energy retrofit or remodel project.  Give us a call at 303-440-9695 or fill out a Needs Questionnaire to get started!

Sign up for the next FREE tour: Wednesday, August 18th

We offer free quarterly tours of Solar Harvest, our flagship zero net energy home and residence to Ecofutures’ Founder/CEO Eric Doub.  The home has received numerous awards and is the first home of its kind in Colorado.

Our next tour is scheduled for Wednesday, August 18th from noon to 1p.m and will be lead by Eric.  Spots are limited for this popular free tour, so consider signing up now by filling out the sign-up form on our website.  There is one more date this year (October 19th) that you can sign up for now if our upcoming date doesn’t work for you.

Want to receive this e-newsletter? Click here to subscribe.

The highlights:

-The bill will stimulate construction, create jobs, and reduce carbon emissions.
-Home Star is expected to fund home comfort and energy upgrades for 3 million families, create 168,000 new jobs, and save consumers $9.2 billion on energy bills over the next 10 years!
-$6 billion will be provided for energy-efficient or “green” retrofits.
-Houston Neal cut through all the legalese and put all the requirements and rebate amounts for the 13 different kinds of retrofit measures in an easy to understand table.
-Eligible retrofit measures include:

• Air sealing
• Attic insulation
• Duct replacement and sealing
• Wall insulation
• Crawl space or basement insulation
• Window replacement
• Door or skylight replacement
• Heating system replacement
• Air-source air conditioner or heat pump insulation
• Geothermal heath pump installation
• Water heater replacement
• Storm windows or doors installation
• Window film installation
• Home energy management system (Gold Star)
• High-efficiency appliances (Gold Star)
• Highly reflective roofing, awnings, canopies, and similar external fenestration (window) attachments (Gold Star)
• Automatic boiler water temperature controllers (Gold Star)
• Energy-efficient wood products (Gold Star)
• Insulated vinyl siding (Gold Star)
• Mechanical air circulation and heat exchangers in a passive-solar home (Gold Star)

-There will be 2 package rebate programs:

• Silver Star: $3,000 in maximum rebates, or 50% of the total cost–whichever is lower
• Gold Star: To qualify, homeowners must reduce their total home energy consumption by 20%; a $3,000 rebate will be awarded for this reduction.  Additional $1,000 rebate for each additional 5% reduction, up to a total rebate of $8,000 or 50% of the total retrofit cost.

How can Ecofutures help?  We can help you navigate the Home Star option as soon as it’s available in addition to many other financial options that are currently available (including existing state and utility rebates, tax incentives, and the Energy Star Mortgage).  We can also handle all of the upgrade work to your home.  Our new subsidiary, EcoSmart Homes specializes in home comfort & energy upgrades, so give us a call to take the first step–scheduling an energy audit!

Back in October 2009 we purchased Aperture, one of Woo Themes’ highly-customizable base themes, and hired the superbly talented creative team, Ryan Oelke and Chelsea Brady, of PowerUp Productions to help us make it uniquely ours. Our marketing staff, Ryann Anderson and Kim Stone, worked closely with PowerUp to develop the new look and content structure. Kim then completed the painstaking task of converting and editing, creating, or re-writing all of content from the old site to create a new and much-improved portal for zero net energy information for our clients and community.

Check out the profile showcase here. We sure are honored and proud to be recognized by such a well-respected organization in the web design community.

“The Showhouse That Sustainability Built” that debuted on March 26, 2008 in the New York Times brought readers’ attention back to sustainbility and building costs.  By clearly laying out building costs vs. energy efficiency expenditures, the article tells and honest and eloquent story about how Eric Doub and Ecofutures was so successful in designing Solar Harvest.  The article is available for free online and has a audio visual slideshow well worth a look.

View the full article or view the audiovisual slideshow

]]> http://www.ecofuturesbuilding.com/2010/04/solar-harvest-featured-in-new-york-times/feed/ 0 http://www.ecofuturesbuilding.com/2010/04/what-happens-when-a-solar-harvest-article-is-translated-to-chinese/ http://www.ecofuturesbuilding.com/2010/04/what-happens-when-a-solar-harvest-article-is-translated-to-chinese/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:18:14 +0000 admin http://www.ecofuturesbuilding.com/?p=3818 Recently we learned that an article featuring our flagship zero energy home, Solar Harvest, had hit a Chinese paper. It’s a nearly direct translation of the New York Times feature article, and the translation back to English… Read more

• Announcing Ecofutures’ Home Performance Upgrades subsidiary, EcoSmart Homes
• South Boulder Deep Energy Retrofit featured in Solar Today
• Can I build a home for $100 per square foot?
• Bryan Bowen Architects leading the way in sustainable architecture
• Sign up for next free tour of Solar Harvest: May 13th @ Noon

Announcing Ecofutures’ Home Performance Upgrades subsidiary, EcoSmart Homes

“When it comes to saving money and growing our economy, energy efficiency isn’t just low hanging fruit; it’s fruit lying on the ground. The most prosperous, competitive economies of the 21st century will be those that use energy efficiently. It’s time for America to lead the way.” – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu

Ecofutures has been a pioneer in residential energy efficiency and getting to zero net energy for over 15 years. Times are very exciting in the world of home performance upgrades, with momentous support coming from federal, state, and local governments and consumers alike. Thus, CEO Eric Doub and a core team of 7 have been busily readying Ecofutures’ spinoff, EcoSmart Homes (ESH), to open its doors to the public this summer.

“FutureFit Your Home” is their motto, and ESH will strive to be your one-stop-shop for state of the art audits, whole-systems energy, health, and comfort improvements, as well as energy monitoring and performance verification. Ecofutures will continue to implement near-zero Deep Energy Retrofits, while EcoSmart Homes will focus on Home Performance Upgrades in the $10,000 to $50,000 range. ESH looks forward to helping you achieve better comfort, health, and energy savings in your home. Email us at Info@EcoSmartHomes.com if you’d like to get on the wait list to be one of the first to experience our superior audits and home performance upgrades. And keep your ears open for our “doors open” announcement over the next couple of months!

In the video below, home performance contractors, including staff from our own EcoSmart Homes, talk about how they are turning more energy audits into retrofits using state-of-the-art software as their tool for success:

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South Boulder Deep Energy Retrofit featured in Solar Today

Ecofutures’ near-zero-net-energy retrofit of a 1970 Boulder ranch home was featured in the Jan/Feb issue of Solar Today. Read the full article to discover what a Deep Energy Retrofit is all about—from boosting efficiency through appliance and building envelope improvements, adding renewable energy systems to produce electricity and provide domestic hot water & heat, and improving indoor air quality by ensuring good ventilation and using sustainable materials with low to no volatile organic compounds.

Perhaps you’ll begin to consider the benefits of Deep Energy Retrofitting your home. If so, here’s the Ecofutures guide on how to get to zero in your home:

1. Get a “Whole House” Energy Audit: Our motto is, “Always Audit First.” An audit will measure your energy consumption and identify specific ways you can reduce demand and increase efficiency. In addition to a basic audit, you should also ask for a safety test of your combustion appliances (i.e. furnace) to ensure operating efficiency and safety. Ecofutures audits do, so just give us a call to get yours set up!

2. Implement Basic Audit Recommendations: Most homes will see significant utility bill savings with inexpensive measures such as air sealing, insulation, the installation of compact fluorescents and low-flow showerheads, and planting shade trees. Ecofutures can help you integrate any energy efficiency improvements you may want or need.

3. Integrate Major Energy Improvements: Ecofutures has pioneered housing that allows you to enjoy modern amenities and be as close to net carbon neutral as you choose. So if you’ve been considering a major renovation, consider going a step further and doing a Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) with us. A DER integrates energy with function and aesthetic improvements, and will result in a profound reduction in energy consumption. You may even be able to produce your own energy!

4. Monitor Energy Use: Your energy use will fluctuate through the seasons, and as kids grow, homes age, and technological innovations evolve. Monitoring these fluctuations will ensure your investment pays off for years to come. Ecofutures provides performance monitoring and verification solutions as a standard, so you can track and respond to your energy usage if you choose. We do this to make sure our customers’ homes work as designed. We don’t leave it to chance, like so many contractors do.

With our integrated whole-systems design approach—collaboration between you, your architect, and Ecofutures—you’re sure to meet your goals and budget even before the first hammer is swung. A DER includes measures such as relocating windows to capture more sunlight and super-insulating the foundation, roof, and exterior walls. Advanced energy and comfort systems (i.e. geothermal, photovoltaics, etc.) will also be integrated wherever the budget allows. A DER is a sound investment. Not only will your efforts result in immediate savings from greatly reduced utility bills, but the value of your new high-performance home is likely to go up.

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Can I build a zero energy home for $100 per square foot?

A new home built for $100 per square foot (PSF) is a difficult task these days, but that’s not to say it’s not doable!  We’ve outlined a few design/build models that can help you achieve this goal, including a model we’ve recently adopted in partnership with Solar Village Homes. We now provide on-site assembly services for SVH’s off-site built homes, a service that complements our high-end custom projects and makes zero net energy affordable to a much larger group of home and land owners.

Modular/Pre-Fabricated/Off-Site Built Homes | $150-$200 per square foot

Modular homes today are a far cry from the trailer homes of old. While the process is the same – they are factory-built so costs are cut by streamlining the process down to an assembly line – they can be designed to be indistinguishable from a stick-built home.  In addition to highly-advanced techniques to maximize energy efficiency in the finished product, these homes often have a much lighter environmental impact because waste is reduced in the building process. And, because they are literally delivered to the job site in some finished state, there is very little construction waste, or the need to disturb soils extensively. One of the best features of an off-site built home is the time needed to “build” the home on-site – it’s cut nearly in half!

if you’re considering such a home, we recommend Boulder-based Solar Village Homes. Their off-site built homes start at about $150 PSF and are beautifully-designed and well-priced. Plus, your home would be manufactured locally, keeping materials, labor, and transportation all in Colorado! Check out the pre-designed models here, but keep in mind that they can take any design and have it produced in the factory to your exact specifications.

The popular magazine, Modular Today, is a great resource for this kind of building and can also give you a list of other manufacturers, pricing, and design ideas, too.

NREL’s Habitat for Humanity Home Model | $95 per square foot

In 2005 the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) successfully completed its first zero net energy Habitat for Humanity home in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.  The home continues to perform competitively to our high-end custom zero net energy homes! At $95 per square foot (PSF) for 1,200 SF (including a solar electric system!), it is a great example of what can be accomplished when budget is the primary driver.

NREL published a technical case study on the home that includes a detailed cost analysis. The case study contains many of the keys to low cost/high-efficiency building (how to weigh out the trade-offs for the best thermal, comfort and energy systems benefit).  More information can be found on the NREL website.

Low-Income Housing Models | $100 per square foot

There are architects out there that specialize in low-income housing building design that, by law, has to hover around the $100 per square foot range.  Try looking at some low-income housing developments to get ideas on how to cut costs without cutting luxury, and check out the architects who designed them.  They may be willing to sell you a set of prints to build your own home.  One example of a neighborhood like this is the Holiday Neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado. There are also groups such as Thistle Communities that work to connect working families, seniors and people with disabilities with quality, permanently affordable rental and ownership homes.

If you’re serious about trying to build your home for around $100 per square foot, we highly recommend that you read the book entitled “The perfect $100,000 house” by Karrie Jacobs. The book is a chronicle of Jacobs’ 14,000 mile mile cross-country trip in search for the perfect $100,000 house.  It’s an adventure trying to find creative ways to cut costs to build your very own dream zero energy home, but the book proves that it can be done.

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Bryan Bowen Architects leading the way in sustainable architecture

LEED-certified projects. Ultra low-energy buildings. Net zero energy homes.

These phrases describe the cutting-edge work of Boulder-based Bryan Bowen Architects (BBA), a collaborative that targets social and environmental sustainability in all of its designs, and most recently partnered with us on a zero net energy home in Fraser, Colorado.

BBA’s expertise in custom residences, custom commercial buildings, cohousing, multi-family, and affordable housing is supported by its passion for energy and resource conservation. Founded by Bryan Bowen, a practicing architect since 1995, BBA is dedicated to the design of neighborhoods and sexy eco-buildings, all with the vision of making baby steps toward a sustainable, permaculture planet.

“Our work is strong in community spirit,” says Bowen, a member of Wild Sage Cohousing in north Boulder. “We bring humility and altruism to our projects – and combine that with strong professional expertise. Our goal is to create successful, lively, significant public places as well as affordable, high-efficiency homes that foster long-term community social health.”

BBA’s mission-driven approach to doing business is fully in line with Ecofutures, and our most recent collaboration with them on the super-eco home in Fraser is shining proof of that. This stunning year-round residence applies a host of passive and active building technologies with real-time monitoring devices to ensure an inviting and inspiring home. The 5,232-square-foot home is grid-tied and all electric but uses no fossil fuels. In addition to a very efficiently arranged living space, the home includes a shop outbuilding, big two-car garage, guest home, home exercise space, and sunspaces. BBA has also collaborated with Ecofutures on several projects that are to date not yet built: two other zero energy houses as well as a food- and energy-producing greenhouse addition to an existing ranch home in Longmont, Colorado. Other BBA projects include Namaste Solar’s new facility on North Broadway, EcoCycle’s Recycle Row, Silver Sage Cohousing, Hyland Village Community Center and Pool, and Naropa University’s breezeway.

In designing these projects, BBA focuses whenever possible on retrofit and rehabilitation, with the goal of preserving the best attributes of an existing community while lowering the energy use of older structures. BBA achieves sustainability and affordability through wise planning and integrated design, making very low-impact, low-maintenance buildings available at all budget levels.

“Good design means integrated design, and a team at the forefront of high-performing homes has to consist of players who are resilient, creative, mission-driven, and fun to work with,” says Ecofutures founder and CEO Eric Doub. “Bryan Bowen and his team are all of these. We look forward to co-creating precedent-setting designs for future projects.” Learn more about Bryan Bowen Architects at bryanbowenarchitects.com.

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Sign up for next FREE tour: Thursday, May 13th @ noon

We offer free quarterly tours of Solar Harvest, our flagship zero net energy home and residence to Ecofutures Founder/CEO Eric Doub. The home has received numerous awards and is the first home of its kind in Colorado.

Our next tour is scheduled for Thursday, May 13th from Noon to 1:00 PM and will be led by Eric.  Spots are limited for this popular free tour so consider signing up by filling out the sign-up form on our website now. There are also other dates you can sign up for now ( August 18th and October 19th, 2010) if our upcoming date doesn’t work for you.

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Modular/Pre-Fabricated/Off-Site Built Homes | $150-$200 per square foot

Modular homes today are a far cry from the trailer homes of old. While the process is the same – they are factory-built so costs are cut by streamlining the process down to an assembly line – they can be designed to be indistinguishable from a stick-built home.  In addition to highly-advanced techniques to maximize energy efficiency in the finished product, these homes often have a much lighter environmental impact because waste is reduced in the building process. And, because they are literally delivered to the job site in some finished state, there is very little construction waste, or the need to disturb soils extensively. One of the best features of an off-site built home is the time needed to “build” the home on-site – it’s cut nearly in half!

if you’re considering such a home, we recommend Boulder-based Solar Village Homes. Their off-site built homes start at about $150 PSF and are beautifully-designed and well-priced. Plus, your home would be manufactured locally, keeping materials, labor, and transportation all in Colorado! Check out the pre-designed models here, but keep in mind that they can take any design and have it produced in the factory to your exact specifications.

The popular magazine, Modular Today, is a great resource for this kind of building and can also give you a list of other manufacturers, pricing, and design ideas, too.

NREL’s Habitat for Humanity Home Model | $95 per square foot

In 2005 the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) successfully completed its first zero net energy Habitat for Humanity home in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.  The home continues to perform competitively to our high-end custom zero net energy homes! At $95 per square foot (PSF) for 1,200 SF (including a solar electric system!), it is a great example of what can be accomplished when budget is the primary driver.

NREL published a technical case study on the home that includes a detailed cost analysis. The case study contains many of the keys to low cost/high-efficiency building (how to weigh out the trade-offs for the best thermal, comfort and energy systems benefit).  More information can be found on the NREL website.

Low-Income Housing Models | $100 per square foot

There are architects out there that specialize in low-income housing building design that, by law, has to hover around the $100 per square foot range.  Try looking at some low-income housing developments to get ideas on how to cut costs without cutting luxury, and check out the architects who designed them.  They may be willing to sell you a set of prints to build your own home.  One example of a neighborhood like this is the Holiday Neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado.

Finally, if you’re serious about trying to build your home for around $100 per square foot, we highly recommend that you read the book entitled “The perfect $100,000 house” by Karrie Jacobs. The book is a chronicle of Jacobs’ 14,000 mile mile cross-country trip in search for the perfect $100,000 house.  It’s an adventure trying to find creative ways to cut costs to build your very own dream zero energy home, but the book proves that it can be done.  Have fun, and get in touch with us if you need help!

At the end of the presentation, we were both surprised and delighted to learn that modifying a well-known tune’s lyrics for presenters is a Boulder Rotary Club tradition. And so we were presented with our own personalized jingle, written and sung by member Valorie Goodall Mooney, a retired professor of voice.

The tune is written in the spirit of “Home on the Range.” The song is commonly regarded as the unofficial anthem of the American West and we think it’s a perfect fit for Ecofutures, being a true pioneer in zero net energy home building! Below are the clever new lyrics:

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where there’s beer, and the college boys play.
Where often is heard: eco-friendly’s the word,
For our skies are not cloudy all day.
Home, eco-smart home…
Zero energy, green tech’s the key.
Solar Harvest’s the name,
Ecofutures’ the game,
And our skies are not cloudy all day.

And, not only did they write a song for us, but they generously donated one hundred doses of polio vaccine to the Polio Plus Challenge on behalf of Eric Doub and late Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame athlete, Ty Kaus. Ty was from Louisville and was a longtime member of the Boulder Rotary who had polio as a child and as an adult became a champion wheelchair athlete.

For 20 years, Rotary International and its partners have been working to eradicate this tenacious disease. They are currently raising $200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The resulting $555 million will directly support immunization campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to infect and paralyze children, robbing them of their futures and compounding the hardships faced by their families.

To date the Boulder Rotary Club has raised over $26,000 toward their goal. Ecofutures is proud to be a part of this effort. If you’d like to donate to eradicate polio, click here.

A big thank you to Valerie Goodall Mooney, president Darla Schueth, and the entire Boulder Rotary Club for a unique and fulfilling afternoon for Ecofutures!

“The jury of the international Green Dot Awards (GDA) announce the winners of the 2008 competition. The GDA was established to reward and promote forward-thinking businesses that create environmentally friendly products or services, and to reward revolutionary green proposals. The GDA aims to bridge the gap between truly innovative businesses that practice excellence in environmental responsibility and international consumers and media.”

“Although the Green Dot Awards are worthy onto themselves, they are also a consumer guide to excellence in environmentally-sustainable practices. A business with a Green Dot Award is a business that can be trusted by consumers with stewardship of the environment. “

• Ecofutures has a new website!
• Social network with us!
• HERS (–3) ZNE Home at High Altitude :: Evergreen, Colorado
• Net Energy Producer in “Icebox of the Nation” :: Fraser, Colorado
• Near Zero Net Energy for 5% More :: Longmont, Colorado
• Eric Doub Attends Exclusive Konwa Kai ZNE Think Tank Meeting
• Ecofutures Receives 2009 BASF Builders Challenge Award
• Sign up for next tour: February 17 @ Noon

Brand New Website

After months of hard work, we’ve finished our new website.  We were lucky to have the help of Boulder-based PowerUp Productions, who expertly executed the web creation and design of the site.   We hope you’ll find it to be very user friendly and easy to navigate.  Please check back on occasion, as we will make frequent updates, especially to the Founder’s Corner (CEO Eric Doub’s blog) and News sections.  Here’s a mini site tour:

• Design/Build Services: Learn about our award-winning, whole-systems approach to the design and construction of zero net energy and high performance homes.
• Portfolio: View profiles of our precedent-setting zero net energy custom-built homes and deep energy retrofitted existing homes.
• Consulting Services: Explore our carbon neutrality consulting services lead by founder Eric Doub and offered to homebuilders, remodelers, developers, and community planners.
• In The Community: Tour Solar Harvest, our flagship zero net energy home.  Reserve Eric Doub for speaking engagements and view his past presentations.  Stay informed about Ecofutures and other relevant community events via the community calendar.
• Learn Zero: A great resource to find out what Zero Net Energy is all about—case studies, best practice guides, codes & policies, financial support, tools & calculators, etc.
• About: All about Ecofutures’ mission & history, team, past projects, testimonials, and awards.

Social Media

Since fall 2009, we’ve added social networking to our daily activities.  We’ve been so pleased with the depth of the connections we’ve achieved with local, national, and even international communities—industry professionals and non-professionals alike.

Please consider following us via these social networking channels:

Twitter Just shy of 1,500 followers.  ~630 tweets since August 2009.  We tweet news about Ecofutures, green building, energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change, and other relevant Colorado news. Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets.

Facebook Fan Page Just shy of 60 fans.  Started in October 2009.  The latest Ecofutures updates and most relevant industry news. Facebook is a social networking website where users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, and school or college.

LinkedIn See Ecofutures’ company profile and connect with Ecofutures’ employees. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking.

Flickr See the latest Ecofutures project and event photos. Flickr is an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community.

YouTube Videos done by Ecofutures or about Ecofutures, including HGTV’s “Red, Hot and Green” segment on our flagship zero net energy home, Solar Harvest. YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos.

Share This Also, please help us get the word out by sharing any sections of our site displaying the “share this” icon (picture to the right) at the  bottom of the page: email a friend some info, post an Ecofutures item on your Facebook page or Twitter, Digg/Stumble us, and more!

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Completed Project: HERS -3 Home at High Altitude :: Evergreen, CO

“Our new home reflects the harmonies that we enjoyed with Ecofutures and all of the people involved in the building project.” -The Moores.

The Moores moved into their home in March ’09.  Designed in a traditional southwest/adobe style with natural finishes and sustainable materials, the home integrates the best techniques and technologies used in high-performance home construction today.  Despite typically cold and windy site conditions, the home was rated HERS –3 post-construction, which means that it is projected to generate more energy than it uses.  Only a handful of homes in the U.S. have been awarded this distinction, and the home’s no-energy bill performance was achieved for only 8% more in cost.

Learn more about this state of the art, high-performance home:

• Online Portfolio Page: See photos, what the Moores had to say about their home and Ecofutures, and learn about the home’s key details, renewable energy systems, advanced energy & comfort systems, and building envelope.
• Project Profile: PDF explaining the various high-performance components of the home including its air-tight building envelope, fresh air circulation, on-site energy & heat production, solar-heated water, and non-toxic, sustainable interior finishes.
• Project Photos: Take slideshow tours of construction, finished, and housewarming (held on 9/27/09) galleries on Flickr.
• Read the “Breaking News” section of the newsletter to find out about the BASF Builders Challenge Award the home earned us this year.
• To see all the technical details of the home, please click here.

Current Project: Net Energy Producer in “Icebox of the Nation” :: Fraser, CO

Despite the annual mean temperature in Fraser being 32.5 °F, Ecofutures’ integrated design team has designed the home to be better than zero net energy, even with considerable conditioned space and “extracurricular” energy uses.  17kW of solar PV will power the 5,200 sq. ft. house, 900 sq. ft. detached wood shop, AND 2 all-electric Tesla vehicles (1 Roadster and 1 five-door when it’s released into the marketplace)!  For 8% more in construction costs, the homeowners can power their entire house and their cars without paying anything (net) to a utility company, thereby future-proofing their home against rising energy costs!

On January 20^th, we received some wonderful news from our stellar on-site Project Manager, Jeremy Mercier: “All inspections passed with flying colors today.  The inspector had said it was one of the most well-built homes he had ever seen and that it should be a model for future homes in Grand County.  He was blown away with our wall assemblies and said that if this was code, we wouldn’t be in the trouble we’re in.”

All framing has been completed, and insulation, radiant tubing, and concrete floors are underway.  By the end of February, drywall will be complete, and the home should be ready to live in by August.

To view our Flickr gallery of this home under construction, please click here.

To see all the technical details of the home, please click here.

Current Project: Near Zero Net Energy for 5% More :: Longmont, CO

The Hainlines’ custom home, overseen by expert on-site Project Manager, Jim Pendergast, is due to be completed in August and is projected to achieve a HERS 9 rating.  The Hainlines came to Ecofutures at the onset, relying on our expertise to provide them with the best integrated design team possible, and thus only 5% of the overall construction budget had to be allocated to achieve Boulder County’s BuildSmart-mandated HERS 10 or better.   That 5% included building envelope upgrades such as walls with interior thermal breaks, closed cell spray-in-place foam, and double dry wall, as well as high-performance windows, and a large sun space 3 feet deep that acts as a solar air collector for space heating. Solar thermal and solar electric renewable energy systems were also included in that 5%. Currently, Jim is having his crew finish up exterior framing and roofing, as well as start on paint and stucco.  Throughout the interior, the HVAC and electrical phases are beginning and the glass for the innovative sunspace was just installed.

To view our Flickr gallery of this home under construction, please click here.

To see all the technical details of the home, please click here.

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Eric Attends Exclusive Konwa Kai ZNE Think Tank Meeting

On January 25, Founder & CEO Eric Doub attended the invitation-only Konwa Kai meeting held in Orlando, FL and hosted by Daikin, the 2^nd biggest A/C company in the world.  The Japanese company is entering the North American market and has been seeking out industry-leading expertise in the area of Zero Net Energy.  Daikin executives discovered Eric upon touring Ecofutures’ zero net energy flagship home, Solar Harvest, offered through the September ’09 EEBA Conference.  Impressed by what they saw and after flying 6 executives out to Colorado in November to see various Ecofutures projects, they invited Eric to be one of 35 executives and engineers from North America, Europe, Japan, and China to attend Konwa Kai, Daikin’s annual think tank & innovation meeting.  Eric eagerly accepted and gave one of four non-Daikin presentations at the meeting and left feeling “so honored that Daikin asked me to participate and considered me worthy of being in the company of such well-respected and internationally-known industry leaders.”

Ecofutures Receives BASF Builders Challenge Award for Building ZNE Home in 2009

On Tuesday, January 19 at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas, Ecofutures accepted its award for completing the Evergreen ZNE home in March ‘09, its 2^nd project to achieve the off the charts score of –3 on the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale).  When the DOE issued its Builders Challenge in 2008, Ecofutures’ Solar Harvest was the first home to be registered under the program with a negative HERS score of –3.  Ecofutures currently has 4 homes registered under Builders Challenge and looks forward to enrolling many more in the coming years!  See the case study Builders Challenge did about Ecofutures’ –3 homes.

We also want to congratulate the other builders that received awards this year: David Weekley Homes (Texas) for qualifying the most homes (280) for the Builders Challenge in 2009.  Artistic Homes (New Mexico), Time O-Brian Homes Inc (Wisconsin), and Yavapai College (Arizona) for qualifying zero net energy homes (homes that produce as much energy as they use) through the Builders Challenge in 2009.  See the Builders Challenge case studies on these builder’s homes.

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Sign up for next tour: February 17 @ noon

We offer periodic tours of Solar Harvest, our flagship zero net energy home and residence to Ecofutures Founder/CEO Eric Doub.

Our next tour is scheduled for Wednesday, February 17^th from noon to 1p.m and will be led by Eric.  Consider signing up for the Feb 17^th tour or put yourself on a list for a later date by filling out the “Tour Sign Up Request” form on our website.

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