Posts From June, 2020

2024 Building Excellence Award Winners

The 2024 Building Excellence Awards were presented at the High Performance Home Builder Summit in Salt Lake City, an awards banquet that truly showcased the unwavering dedication, innovation, and sheer talent driving the construction industry forward. This awards banquet is a testament to the remarkable projects, brilliant minds, and tireless efforts that have shaped our built environment over the past year. We are thrilled to congratulate this year's winners, whose work not only sets new standards in building science, sustainability, and energy efficiency but also exemplifies excellence in high-performance home construction. Their achievements are helping to shape a more sustainable and resilient future for all of us. Volunteer Award: Theresa Gilbride Congratulations to Theresa Gilbride, a building energy efficiency researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The EEBA Volunteer Award recognizes Theresa who selflessly gave her time, energy, and skills to make a ... read more
 

Team Zero is Looking for Your Net Zero Energy Project

Team Zero is Looking for Your Net Zero Energy Project
For the last five years, Team Zero, also known as the Net Zero Energy Coalition, has been collecting data on Zero Energy residential buildings in the US and Canada. Together, this group of non-profits, industry stakeholders, and associations are collaborating to focus their “zero-related ambitions” on broad industry-led national awareness of Zero Energy. Inventory collection for 2019 will end on August 15, 2020. Eligible projects include: Single–family and multifamily homes New, retrofit, or combined Projects in planning, design, or construction phase, or completed Near-zero, zero-energy-ready, ZNE, or net positive projects If you’re unsure if your project is eligible, simply upload the project data and you will be advised if they need more information. You can quickly and easily enter your project information into their secure database. New this year, the database will be collecting additional information on solar adoption, fuel choices, and trends on... read more
 

Improving Housing Attainability to Bridge the Wealth Gap

Taking time to listen, it’s clear that our industry can and must do more to narrow disparities in homeownership.
Improving Housing Attainability to Bridge the Wealth Gap
This article can be found on the EnergyLogic website here Continuing the Discussion As introduced in last week’s blog, we’re further exploring income inequality and its effects on housing attainability. Read on below to hear more about what we and others think can be done to reach this important objective. Change may be more achievable during this period of disruption. Don’t Defer the Dream In 1990 as President of the Denver Home Builders Association and the Colorado President for what is now Lennar, I negotiated a groundbreaking agreement with the Federal Housing Administration to ensure that new homes were marketed without prejudice to all regardless of race or national origin. This agreement gained unanimous approval of the HBA’s Board of Directors because it was the right thing to do. We saw evidence of fair marketing practices become mainstream in advertising and direct contact with potential homebuyers. It seemed to me that we were making a lot of progress, as... read more
 

Car and Home Battery Shopping – They’re More Similar Than You Think

Car and Home Battery Shopping – They’re More Similar Than You Think
Adding energy storage to your home is, in many ways, surprisingly similar to buying a car. If I’m like most people, I’d look at quality and reliability, safety, and functionality — among other factors — before choosing my car. Price is typically not the primary concern, otherwise we would see the Chevy Spark outnumber other car models on the streets. When purchasing energy storage, you should use similar criteria to find the right solution for your home. Let’s take a closer look at each of these considerations and how to interpret them when shopping for home battery solutions. QUALITY AND RELIABILITY Nobody likes it when their car breaks down unexpectedly or must be taken in for service. Dealing with these issues costs you time, energy, and money. Thankfully, the right energy storage system can reduce these worries, or eliminate them altogether. By using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry, sonnen can provide the highest-quality and longest-lasting residential storage ... read more
 

Grants Awarded to Habitat for Humanity to Improve Energy Efficiency

Habitat for Humanity was recently awarded two different grants focused on increasing energy efficiency in low-income housing.
Grants Awarded to Habitat for Humanity to Improve Energy Efficiency
Solar PV Installations Habitat for Humanity of Macon was recently awarded a $60,000 grant to install solar panels on 5 homes. In collaboration with Mercer University, funds were awarded by the All Points North Foundation to install low-cost grid-tied rooftop solar PV systems at no cost to homeowners. The PV systems should “offset 80-100 percent of each home’s annual energy needs, saving an estimated 6,400-kilowatt-hours of fossil fuel-sourced electricity, resulting in nearly $1,000 in savings per year for each homeowner.” The partnership with Mercer University’s Engineering for Development Program will allow students to have exposure to both Habitat for Humanity construction projects as well as the design and installation of solar PV systems. Improving Energy Security As part of the U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Program (SEP) grants, Habitat for Humanity in Kentucky recently received $67,000 to improve energy security and “support low-income families through... read more