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

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. “

As with all remodels and energy efficiency upgrades we complete for our clients, we follow the U.S. Green Building Council’s REGREEN Guidelines, which was authored in part by Ecofutures’ founder & CEO, Eric Doub. If you don’t fully understand the building science behind deep energy retrofits or zero net energy, this article is a great place to start. If you want to learn more, check out our “Learn Zero” section.

View full article

View full article

Another cool interactive feature in the newsletter is a video that explains the 5 keys to energy efficiency in your home. Check it out here.

News Release

December 4, 2006

Kristin Shewfelt
Program Development Officer
E-Star Colorado™

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Colorado’s Most Energy-Efficient Home Builders and Contractors Recognized by E-Star Colorado and ENERGY STAR^®.

2006 New Millennium ENERGY STAR Builder Awards Presented to Nine Companies That Provide Consumers with Outstanding Quality and a Buffer Against Rising Energy Prices

DENVER – December 4, 2006 – Colorado consumers will continue to experience price volatility in winter residential energy pricing, but 8 home builders and 1 trade contractor are being recognized today for providing homeowners with a way to keep utility bills reasonable and homes more comfortable. At a luncheon ceremony held during the first annual ENERGY STAR Summit, these firms were honored with the 2006 New Millennium ENERGY STAR Builder Awards for their demonstrated commitment to energy-efficient homes throughout the state. The winners of the New Millennium awards have designed, constructed, and marketed top quality, high-performing homes judged to be some of the best in the state.

E-Star Colorado, a statewide non-profit that promotes energy efficiency in housing, together with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR for Homes program, presented the 2006 New Millennium ENERGY STAR Builder Awards to this year’s winning homebuilders in a luncheon ceremony at the Hyatt Regency in the Denver Tech Center.  Sam Rashkin, National Director of the ENERGY STAR for Homes program, was the keynote speaker.

Now in its sixth year, the New Millennium ENERGY STAR Builder Awards recognize and celebrate Colorado home builders and contractors who demonstrate a clear understanding of the positive effects of energy-efficient construction on their businesses, homeowners, and the state economy. The awards program is intended to show the building industry the benefits and advantages of constructing highly energy-efficient homes. The awards also help consumers identify Colorado’s leading energy-efficient homebuilders.

“With rising energy costs, consumers need to identify Colorado home builders that provide comfort and savings on utility bills along with all the trappings of a traditional home,” said Pat Keegan, Acting Executive Director of E-Star Colorado. “Our goal is to put the spotlight on these outstanding home builders and show that exceptionally high-quality, energy-efficient homes can be built in any price category. Each of the homes built by the winning homebuilders is beautiful, comfortable, and offers a way to lower the monthly cost of ownership. Homes such as these also lessen the impact of housing on the environment since they use less energy and most of our energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal.  As a matter of fact, two of our award winners this year built zero-energy custom homes, almost eliminating the need for purchased energy from fossil-fuel sources.  Other builders showcased the ability to integrate energy-efficiency measures in the affordable housing sector.  This is critically important for people hit hardest by the operational costs of housing,” added Keegan.

The 2006 New Millennium ENERGY STAR Builder Awards were presented in six categories to the following eight home builders and one trade contractor:

• New Rising Star Builder – Denver Metro – Harvard Communities
• New Rising Star Builder – Front Range – Colorado Custom Homes
• Affordable/Attainable Builder – Denver Metro – Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver
• Affordable/Attainable Builder – Front Range – Aspen Homes of Colorado
• Production Builder – Denver Metro – New Town Builders
• Production Builder – Front Range – Engle Homes
• Custom Builder – Denver Metro – Ecofutures Building
• Custom Builder – Front Range – Aspen Homes of Colorado
• Trade Partner Award – Front Range – Atlantic Heating and Air Conditioning
• Super Nova Award of Distinction – Habitat for Humanity of Colorado

“These builders and trade contractors use a systems-approach to homebuilding to achieve outstanding results,” said Patty Crow, the ENERGY STAR representative for Colorado. “Although there are a variety of ways to build ENERGY STAR qualified homes, all of the homes constructed by today’s winners utilize superior levels of insulation, tight construction, low-e windows, and highly efficient heating and cooling equipment. By constructing ENERGY STAR qualified homes, these companies are providing better places to live for Colorado residents and helping to protect the environment for all of us.“

To qualify for the New Millennium ENERGY STAR Builder Awards, builders must have built new homes or renovated existing homes that meet or exceed the home energy rating standards of the EPA’s ENERGY STAR for Homes program. This rating is a uniform and a comparative measure of energy performance, and can be thought of as a residential “miles-per-gallon” sticker. To be ENERGY STAR qualified, a home must undergo a third-party evaluation of its energy performance. The EPA will issue an ENERGY STAR label that can be affixed to the residence’s home upon receiving written verification of a home scoring 85 points or lower using the newly-defined home energy rating index score.

As was the case with the Awards in prior years, an outstanding panel of energy-efficiency experts and professionals within the building, design, and construction industries judged the entries. Entries are evaluated on criteria such as: innovative use of building processes or technologies to achieve energy efficiency; economic considerations; health considerations such as combustion safety and indoor air quality; moisture management techniques; features that enhance durability; the whole-house systems approach; marketing and consumer education as well as the use of ENERGY STAR qualified appliances and lighting products.

“This year’s New Millennium winners are providing outstanding value to Colorado consumers while helping to alleviate high energy prices and assure an adequate supply of energy for all Colorado residents,” Keegan said.

###

About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR for Homes is a national, voluntary program that develops partnerships with the home building industry to construct homes that use at least 15 percent less energy than required by the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. For further information, contact local ENERGY STAR representative Patty Crow at (303) 312-6464, crow.patty@epa.gov, or visit www.energystar.gov/homes.

About E-Star Colorado

Founded in 1995, E-Star Colorado is a statewide non-profit that promotes energy efficiency in housing. The organization does so through its Home Energy Rating system and other initiatives for participants in Colorado’s housing industry, including consumers, homebuilders, real estate professionals, code officials and utility companies throughout the state.  More information on home energy efficiency, E-Star programs and a list of Raters who perform E-Star energy evaluations can be found at www.e-star.com or by calling Jim Meyers at (303) 482-1226.

A film crew from the Discovery Science Channel seeking out “the high technology of building green” visited two Ecofutures homes today to interview our staff for the show, Eco Tech (now canceled). The episode aired during the first week of August 2007.

Features of ENERGY STAR Qualified New Homes

To earn the ENERGY STAR, a home must meet guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These homes are at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20–30% more efficient than standard homes.

And with homebuyers increasingly interested in green building, energy efficiency is the place to start. That’s because the energy used in homes often comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which contributes to smog, acid rain, and risks of global warming. So, the less energy used, the less air pollution generated. And the easy way to make sure a new home is energy efficient is to look for the blue ENERGY STAR mark, the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency.

Any home three stories or less can earn the ENERGY STAR label if it has been verified to meet EPA’s guidelines, including: single family, attached, and low-rise multi-family homes; manufactured homes; systems-built homes (e.g., SIP, ICF, or modular construction); log homes, concrete homes; and even existing retrofitted homes.

ENERGY STAR qualified homes can include a variety of ‘tried-and-true’ energy-efficient features that contribute to improved home quality and homeowner comfort, and to lower energy demand and reduced air pollution:

1. Effective Insulation
Properly installed and inspected insulation in floors, walls, and attics ensures even temperatures throughout the house, reduced energy use, and increased comfort.

2. High-Performance Windows
Energy-efficient windows employ advanced technologies, such as protective coatings and improved frames, to help keep heat in during winter and out during summer. These windows also block damaging ultraviolet sunlight that can discolor carpets and furnishings.

3. Tight Construction and Ducts
Sealing holes and cracks in the home’s “envelope” and in heating and cooling duct systems helps reduce drafts, moisture, dust, pollen, and noise. A tightly sealed home improves comfort and indoor air quality while reducing utility and maintenance.

4. Efficient Heating and Cooling Equipment
In addition to using less energy to operate, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems can be quieter, reduce indoor humidity, and improve the overall comfort of the home. When properly installed into a tightly sealed home, this equipment won’t have to work so hard to heat and cool the home.

5. Efficient Products
ENERGY STAR qualified homes may also be equipped with ENERGY STAR qualified products — lighting fixtures, compact fluorescent bulbs, ventilation fans, and appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines.

6. Third-Party Verification
With the help of independent Home Energy Raters, ENERGY STAR builder partners choose the most appropriate energy-saving features for their homes. Additionally, raters conduct onsite testing and inspections to verify the energy efficiency measures, as well as insulation, air tightness, and duct sealing details.

Visit ENERGY STAR for more information.