Ok, we admit, it's not the mostnews-worthy
headline, but Energy Design Update thought it was news enough for their
News Briefs
section of the May, 2008 issue! Click here to read the short
brief and read on for our corrections:
The reasons behind the switching to all electric appliances are actually quite
different from those reasons listed in the Brief. Both the New York
Times and Treehugger.com missed the boat on the real reasons motivating
the switch. So, in an effort to always present the truth, here are the
primary reasons behind the change:
1. Electricity is a much easier metric to use when calculating whether
the home meets its annual net-zero energy goal; it is a simple energy
used vs. energy produced equation.
2. As we see more and more clean energy sources feeding into Xcel's
energy grid - and the prospects for continued growth of clean energy
continue to grow into the future - it becomes evident that in 10 or 15
years, electricity may be the cleaner energy source. This, coupled
with the predicted rise in natural gas costs, has led us to encourage
our clients to build all-electric homes. Last year Solar Harvest, ever
the test home, became the first of Ecofutures' homes to demonstrate
this design philosophy.
Finally, a note about air conditioning: the Coolerado Cooler is the
most energy-efficient air conditioner on the market as a result of its
A/C-evaporative cooler hybrid design. It consumes 1/6 of the amount of
energy as a conventional A/C unit: 550-600 Watts to provide 1200 CFM of
61-64 deg. F air (now that's newsworthy!). Learn more at: www.coolerado.com
To offset the small amount of added energy use for the new appliances
and Coolerado, Eric added 1.9 kW of "summertime" PV in the form of
low-slope east- and west-facing PV panels. Eric also removed the
fishtank which once consumed the same amount of energy as three energy
star refrigerators.
May 23, 2008
Abramson
Zero Energy Home Featured in Boulder County Business Report
Set out to build "the greenest home in the
country" Ron Abramson and his wife Lori contracted with us last year to
design and construct a zero-energy home for their family.
After months of careful deliberation over energy and comfort systems
design, advanced engineering, and material selection, we are finally
about to begin the construction phase of the project. Kicking
off the start of construction, the home was featured in a very
well-written BCBR article. Click here
to link to the BCBR website to read the full article.
May 22, 2008
Boulder
County Home Size Debate
Recent legislation in Boulder County may be
considered the most progressive legislation in the country - or the
most stringent - in it's focus on reducing the carbon footprint of new
and remodeled homes. New County requirements ask that all new
homes over 3,000 square feet achieve a HERS rating of 40 - roughly
twice as energy efficient as an Energy Star rated home, and homes over
5,000 square feet achieve a HERS of 10 or less, making it a net-zero
energy home. Additionally, the city of Boulder is trying to
reduce environmental impact by regulating home size based on lot size,
but the proposal has been met with contention by the
community.
"The Showhouse That Sustainability Built" that
debuted today in the New
York times brings 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 was so successful in designing Solar Harvest. The
article
available for free online also has a audio visual slideshow well worth
a look. Click
here to read the full webpage and click here for the audio visual presentation.
March
8, 2008
Eric Doub
Featured in
Rocky Mountain News Article on Efficient Home Popularity
A recent survey of homebuyers in the Denver area
confirms what many builders have come to know is true: efficient homes
are selling
– fast.A whopping 63% of
homebuyers
stated that they were looking to buy low- to zero-energy homes for
their next
home.Vexing many builders is the
fact
that these homebuyers are looking for homes in the $200-$250,000 range
– a
price bracket formerly deemed unfeasible by non-savvy builders.Builders like Ecofutures, however, have a
realistic perspective on home costs and believe that low-cost
low-to-no-energy
homes are well within reach. While it is true many of
Ecofutures' homes come in well above the lower price range, we are
quickly adapting lessons from complex homes to the affordable housing
market. Using a mix of site- and systems-built techniques zero energy
homes will soon be available for any income level.Click
here to read the full article.
February 21, 2008
Final REGREEN
Guide Published!
Final REGREEN Guidelines Published in time for
the Interiors08 Conference in New Orleans!Over the last several months, Eric has been
collaborating with interior
designers from across the country to create an all-encompassing guide
to green
remodeling with an integrated design perspective.Visit www.REGREENprogram.org
to download the manual.
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.
This summer, 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, the video product of their visit went public! Click the video screen below to watch!
Many of Ecofutures' friends and business partners were interviewed to film this video. Follow the links below to learn more about each person and their green company:
Norbert Klebl and Ben Apple, Founder and Designers of GEOS Village
Visit our links page to see other websites of fellow green builders, entrepreneurs, and designers in Colorado, along with some of our favorite educational resources!
OCTOBER 22, 2007
Boulder County BuildSmart Program Public Hearing
The BuildSmart Program is an attempt to ensure that all homes built and retrofitted in Boulder County in the future will serve to decrease greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficiency and renewable energy technology. The new set of mandatory building requirements also seeks to decrease construction waste to landfills, improve occupant health and safety, and promote water conservation initiatives in every home.
Once the program is approved, all builders will have to comply with the new construction standards, and work with third-party rating services to ensure that appropriate energy efficiency measures were taken. Because the program affects all builders, the County has asked for input from local builders during the development of the draft, and they are now asking for public input.
Attend the BuildSmart hearing on Tuesday, October 25 at 3:30pm in the Boulder County Courthouse. More information can be found in this letter from the Board of Review, and the latest BuildSmart Draft can be downloaded here.
OCTOBER 15, 2007
Eric Doub Chimes in on Solar System Regulations
"It's scandalous," remarks Eric Doub about the city's uncompromising stance on small-scale renewable energy generation stations installed on homes such as PV arrays and solar hot water panels. Despite city-wide initiatives to reduce climate change, the city continues to uphold strict rules on where panels can be placed making it difficult for homeowners to implement renewable energy solutions that can make a big impact on solving environmental problems. Click here to read the online article or here to download a PDF.
OCTOBER 8, 2007
City Revising Green Points Program
On October 30 the City of Boulder will hold their next public hearing to allow commentary about the Revised Green Points Program under consideration by the city, local builders and industry leaders. The new program seeks to reduce the complexity of the existing Green Points program, and to shift the focus from general green building strategies to specifically those home improvements and building strategies that increase home energy efficiency. Click here to read the article online or here to download a PDF.
SEPTEMBER
27, 2007
Eric to Present at the
CU-Bioneers Conference October 19-21!
Session
Information:
Date:
Saturday, 10/20 Time: 4:20-5:30pm Title:
Redefining Community with Green Development
Presenters will
discuss local successes, challenges, and trends of redefining community
with green development.How are we
moving beyond green building?What
do small scale and large scale green developments look like in the
future? What's the latest with co-housing initiatives?Presenters include: Bryan Bowen, Bryan Bowen
Architects; Eric Doub, EcoFutures Building; and Dave Wann, Sustainable Futures Society.
Solar Harvest
Featured in New Hybrids-Plus Advertisement
Local plug-in hybrid car conversion
company, Hybrids-Plus,
used Solar Harvest as a live film location while shooting for their
latest infomercial on plug-in hybrid cars.
YouTube video coming soon.
AUGUST
20, 2007
Solar Harvest and the Skinner
Net-Zero Energy Homes Featured on Discovery Science Channel
The series
entitiled
"Eco-Tech" featuring innovations in green building will aired
Wednesday, August 22 at 7pm MST (9pm EST). We will post clips
of the episode to our YouTube site,
so stay tuned!
Click
here to learn more about the feature and view other
airtimes.
AUGUST
2, 2007
Solar Harvest Featured in the
Boulder Green Building Journal
Another
wonderfully
written article about Solar Harvest, highlighting the home's mechanical
and renewable energy features as well as its beauty and
functionality. Featured in the Journal of the Boulder Green
Building Guild in the Spring issue, the article is splashed with
beautiful photos of the home. Click here to download the
issue.
JUNE
21, 2007
Photo by Marty Ciavano,
Daily
Camera 2007
Discovery Science Channel
Turns Spotlight on Broomfield's Newest NZEH
A film crew from the Discovery
Science
Channel seeking out "the high technology of building green" visited two
Ecofutures homes today to interview our project managers and
designers. The episode is to air during the first week of
August. View
pictures from the film shoot on our Flickr site and click
here to read the article in the Daily Camera about the event.
JUNE 10, 2007
Solar Harvest Featured on HGTV's Series
"Red, Hot and Green
Focusing not
only on
the mechanical systems that make Solar Harvest a net-zero energy home,
HGTV visited Solar Harvest to film some of the interior design features
that make it a green, healthy home. The show airs again on
July 1, 2007 but in case you missed it, view it here or visit
our YouTube page.
MAY 15, 2007
Ecofutures
Clients Featured in the Denver Metro HBA Magazine "Home Builder"
In a beautifully illustrated article by Sandra
Graham, with photographs by Phil Mumford, 2 Ecofutures Building
homeowners were interviewed to discuss the benefits to remodeling
green. The article featured Joan Gregerson, who is converting
her existing Longmont home to a net-zero energy home, on a tight
budget. And, John and Vicky Graham are undergoing a more
"extreme" renovation to make their home beyond net-zero; in fact, the
end result is predicted to be net-negative. Click here to
read the full article.
APRIL 27, 2007
Investor's
Business Daily: "Better Built Houses" Features Ecofutures' Homes
In a unique feature on the benefits of green
building from an investor's point of view, Brad Kelly features several
national builders including Eric to discuss the ongoing
trend. Quite simply put, building green makes
"cents". Click
here to link to the
Investor's Business Daily site. No registration required. Or use these downloads for PDF versions: article and graphic.
APRIL 26, 2007
Eric
Doub Quoted in the Washington Post: article on the hazards of "price
per square foot" valuation
Most homeowners ask immediately, "how much per
square foot" when evaluating the value of a home. This method
of home assessment, however, can obscure the true value of the
home. home that achieve a low per square foot cost do so at
the expense of the home's efficiency, heating and cooling equipment,
quality, health and durability. Eric and other builders
remark on the hazards of the per square foot cost accounting.
Click
here for the full article.
APRIL 20, 2007
Eric
Doub Quoted in Daily Camera: Sustainability in Land-Use Hearing
"There are hundreds of building codes that
cost more
to follow than the easiest way of doing things. We cannot
afford not to afford these measures," remarked Eric at the close of a
hearing on improving sustainability measures in Boulder's land use
practices. Eric has been advocating for providing stricter
guidelines for builders to adhere to in improving home efficiency and
construction. The extra cost of these measures, he contends,
will be more than offset by savings on utility bills. Click
here for the full article,
free registration required.
Solar
Harvest featured in Boulder's Daily Camera: One Year Later
This weekend's warm
temperatures and sunny days marked the onset of what many Boulder
residents referred to as "the big melt" - as Boulder began to emerge
from a blanket of snow that lingered for over 50 days. As
residents looked forward to warmer days, Daily Camera writers revisited
Eric at Solar Harvest to find out how the home fared in spite of
several consecutive spells of freezing temperatures, ice, snow, and
sunless-days. Click
here for the full article, a
free subscription to DailyCamera.com is required.
February 7, 2007
Solar
Harvest's first year as a net-zero home: update
Solar
Harvest finished its first year as a net electricity producer!A check
written by Xcel Energy to Eric and his family confirms the
home’s success as a net-zero-annual cost home: Solar Harvest
provided more energy to the grid than was purchased over the course of
the year.
The home’s contribution of 197 kWh
of
renewable energy to the grid prevented 1289 lbs of carbon from being
produced at Xcel’s power plant.Taking
into account the carbon emissions from the 36 therms used for cooking
and clothes drying, Solar Harvest missed designation as a net-zero
emissions home by a mere 124 lbs of carbon.This
difference in can easily be offset by the purchase of RECs; a single
purchase of $5.50 through CarbonFund.org will offset 8 times the amount
due.
Through the purchase of a very small amount of
RECs,
Solar Harvest also successfully met the definition of a net-zero-annual
source energy home.Alone,
the building missed the source-energy mark by 1%.The deficit of kWh causing the home to miss
the
definition can be attributed to the normal process of learning about
how to best manage the home’s energy consumption and
production – specifically, in this case, of the 360-gallon
outdoor spa heating with electricity, an unintended event at the start
of the year, when the solar loop was first being hooked up and started.
Based on the knowledge gained in the
home’s
first year and the future implementation of accurate monitoring
systems, Solar Harvest is expected to meet and exceed the NZEH
benchmark by a wide margin in the years to come.
JANUARY 29, 2007
Ecofutures Building commits to build 100%
Energy Star qualified-homes
2007 marks our
first
year honoring our December, 2006 pledge to build 100% of all new homes
as Energy Star-qualified homes; homes that are designed and built to
meet strict guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S.
EPA. For our clients, this means peace of mind knowing that
they are living in a home rated and designated by the government-backed
Energy Star program. We are the first builder in Boulder to
make the 100% commitment. Visit the Energy
Star webpage for more
information.
