Ecofutures, Inc. » Interactive Media

Ecofutures’ new website showcased by web design community

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:46:31 +0000

Our website re-design took literally months to perfect, and it appears our hard work is paying off. We recently learned that the critics of all critics – web designers and developers – are showcasing our new website on Woo Themes. Woo Themes is a heavy hitter in the world of content management system (CMS) development, creating some of the best looking and professional themes available for WordPress websites.

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.

Solar Harvest hits the New York Times

admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:53:10 +0000

“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

Boulder Rotary pens catchy tune for Ecofutures

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:19:24 +0000

In September 2009 Eric Doub was invited to speak at a luncheon for the Boulder Rotary Club about Ecofutures pioneering work in creating a more sustainable community. The luncheon was wonderful and the audience of more than one hundred were enthusiastic to hear what we were up to these days. You can view our PDF presentation here.

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!

Energy Independence for 7 Percent More?

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:06:27 +0000

HGTV Pro’s January 2010 newsletter features Solar Harvest, Ecofutures flagship zero net energy home, as a model for building methods that will “future-proof” your home from rising energy costs for just 7-8% more in construction costs. The article shows how savings start on Day 1 and will increase exponentially as the cost for fossil fuel-based energy explodes.

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.

Discovery Science Channel turns spotlight on Ecofutures latest zero net energy home in Broomfield

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:49:26 +0000

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… Read more

Solar Harvest on HGTV’s “Red, Hot and Green” Series

admin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:22:01 +0000

Solar Harvest, the City of Boulder’s first zero net energy home was featured on HGTV’s “Red, Hot and Green” Series on remodeling with green and healthy materials.

Ecofutures interviewed on Living Dialogues with Duncan Campbell

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:20:22 +0000

On June 21, 2009, Ecofutures founder Eric Doub spoke with Duncan Campbell about “Homes for the New Energy Economy” on the show Living Dialogues, a show featuring pioneers in new paradigm thinking in a broad variety of fields. Each show provides a different facet of the vision emerging from the work of many to transform our individual lives—and our planet. Duncan weaves together compelling perspectives on our shared experience from his own rich background and that of the extraordinary range of people from around the world he dialogues with as personal friends. It is a fire-keeping space where together, we can ignite each other’s unique creative spark to bring forth our individual transformation and the evolution of our global community.

Just for fun: Yodeling in a big tank

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:15:05 +0000

Mike Moore, owner of a new zero net energy home under construction in Evergreen, CO yodels inside a 2,000-gallon salvaged stainless steel tank that will soon serve as the home’s “thermal battery”. This tank will store heat in water for use during periods of cloudy, cold weather when the home cannot generate all of the heat that it needs through passive solar gain. Heat from the hot water in the tank is transferred to a coil that runs inside the home’s duct system, as air blows across the coil, heat is transferred to the air and distributed throughout the house.

Solar Harvest performance verification page launched

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:35:25 +0000

In April 2007, Solar Harvest was outfitted with advanced data monitoring equipment, including Watt Nodes by Continental Controls Systems, to monitor the home’s energy and comfort systems. During the summer to follow, as we refined the equipment settings, Solar Harvest also went a dramatic change to be converted to an all-electric home.

With data monitoring in place, and conversions complete by September 1, 2007, we were excited to monitor our first full year as an all-electric home. Today we are proud to publish data collected over the last year, and produce what will be the first of many Performance Verification Updates – providing publicly accessible data proving Solar Harvest’s success as a net-zero energy home. Visit our streaming live energy systems monitor.

Ecofutures in YERTpod 16: Energy Sipping Homes in Colorado

admin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:40:36 +0000

Your Environmental Road Trip – fondly dubbed “YERT” is a year-long expedition currently being undertaken by three eco-enthusiasts seeking out the best, brightest, and most bizarre accomplishments of the eco movement in the US. In the summer of 2007, Ben, Julie, and Mark, the “YERTians” made a pit-stop in our town to speak with the best of Boulder’s green and high performance home builders and designers. In December 2007, the video product of their visit went public!

The gentleman interviewed at the round table included:

Norbert Klebl and Ben Apple, Founder and Designers of GEOS Village
Pete Chandler, President, Living Space
Stu Galvis, Chief Visionary and Realtor for Boulder Green Properties speaks about Solar Village
Eric Peltier, Owner, Dovetail Lending
Rob Jenkins and Rick Felton of SIP/Con

Many of Ecofutures’ friends and business partners were interviewed to film this video.