For the third year, the US Department of Energy has chosen TC Legend Homes for one of its Housing Innovation Awards in the “Custom for Buyer” category. Check out the photos of the award-winning zero-energy project.
Key Features
Walls: R-29, 6″ SIP taped at all interior and exterior joints, fiber cement siding.
Roof: R-42, 10″ SIP taped at all interior and exterior joints. Ice-and-water shield, asphalt shingles.
Attic: None.
Foundation: R-23 ICF stem walls, R-20 rigid foam under slab.
The DOE Housing Innovation Awards recognize nation’s top builders on the path to Zero Energy Ready Homes.
The US Department of Energy has announced that TC Legend Homes has been awarded a 2016 Housing Innovation Award in the Custom category. Grand Winners in each category will be announced at the 2016 Housing Innovation Awards Ceremony, Wednesday, September 27, at the EEBA Excellence in Building Conference, in Dallas, Texas.
“Housing Innovation Award winners such as TC Legend Homes are leading a major housing industry transformation to zero energy ready homes. This level of performance is the home of the future because it improves the way Americans live by substantially reducing or eliminating utility bills, ensuring engineered comfort way beyond traditional homes, protecting health with a comprehensive package of indoor air quality measures, and helping maximize the largest investment of a lifetime,” said Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office.
“These winners are leading the movement to Zero Energy Ready Homes that provide better places for Americans to live, stronger communities, and a more economically and environmentally resilient nation,” said Rashkin.
The PlanetMagazine, a quarterly publication of Western Washington University, just published an excellent article about our role in what we hope will be a zero-energy revolution in homebuilding. Thanks to student reporter Alyssa Sanchez for her thoughtful exploration of passive solar design, mechanical equipment, and the other elements that go into net-zero design.
Photo by: Kesia Lee
Ted W. Clifton, dressed in a paint-stained T-shirt and sporting a long beard, enters the Power House, a home that is the first of its kind in Whatcom County. The home is brightly lit by the last of the afternoon rays beaming through the large, south-facing windows. The azure-blue cement floors trap the solar heat, keeping the house at a comfortable 21 degrees Celsius. At first glance, this house might appear like any other on the street, but this home may make utility bills a thing of the past.
Through its Zero Energy Ready Homes initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy has been busy documenting homes that live, work, and last better. They’ve put together a great web resource with such homes all over the country. TC Legend Homes is well represented, with four such “homes of the future” in the Marine climate zone, three of which were Housing Innovation Award winners.
Check out the full tour or click on the links below to take a virtual tour of homes that are so energy efficient a renewable energy system can offset all or most of their annual energy consumption. These award-winning homes are independently certified to meet DOE Zero Energy Ready Home guidelines. Zero Energy Ready Home is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings initiative. Better Buildings aims to make commercial, industrial, public, and residential buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade.
Judges evaluated the entries on comprehensive criteria, including siting, the depth of building science employed, materials sourcing and reuse and overall resilience. All winners will be showcased in the December 2015/January 2016 issue of Green Builder magazine.
“Every year we think we have maxed out the possibilities with the current crop of entries, until we get the new set of entries the following year,” says Green Builder Media President, Ron Jones. “I have to say that I am completely blown away by the judges selections for this year’s awards and amazed by the diversity of project types, geographic locations, selections of materials/products/systems, and architectural styles. The masterful combining of creativity and building science so beautifully and convincingly demonstrated in these projects should inspire everyone, everywhere in the shelter industry to emulate these extraordinary designers and builders.”
The Bellingham Power House, winner of Green Builder magazine’s Home of the Year Award in the “Best Alternative Construction” category.
This year’s judging panel included some of the most forward thinking individuals in the building industry.
Bill Rectanus is the vice president of Homebuilding Operations for Thrive Home Builders (formerly New Town Builders) and is responsible for the implementation of their “High Performance Building Initiative.”
Sam Hagerman is the co-founder and co-owner of Hammer and Hand, a construction company dedicated to inciting evolution in building through service, craft and science.
Steve Byers is the CEO of EnergyLogic which serves a variety of clients in the residential and light commercial energy efficiency and sustainability spaces helping to “make buildings better.”
This was a big year for the Bellingham Power House, which also won a Housing Innovation Award from the U.S. Department of Energy. This unique home goes way beyond zero-energy-ready by not only producing enough solar electricity to meet the home’s needs but generates enough of a surplus to power the owners’ two electric cars. Learn more about this award-winning positive-energy home here.
About Green Builder Magazine
Green Builder® magazine is the building industry’s leading magazine focused on green building and sustainable development. Green Builder offers practical, cost-effective information to a community of the most advanced building professionals across the country. The magazine’s nationally award winning editorial team blends top-quality visionary content with sophisticated design to generate an unforgettable publication that addresses the most important issues of our time.
About Green Builder Media
Green Builder® Media, LLC is the leading media company in North America focused on green building and sustainable living. With a comprehensive suite of print and digital media solutions, demonstration projects, case studies, online training, and live events, Green Builder Media assists building professionals in preparing themselves for the new green economy and helps homeowners understand how to live more sustainably.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that TC Legend Homes was chosen from builders across the nation to win a Housing Innovation Award for our Bellingham Power House.
The Housing Innovation Awards recognize the very best in innovation on the path to zero energy ready homes. Our entry goes way beyond zero-energy-ready by not only producing enough solar electricity to meet the home’s needs but generates enough of a surplus to power the owners’ two electric cars.
DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) Housing Innovation Award Winners are selected for each of four categories: custom, production, multifamily, and affordable homes. One DOE ZERH Grand Housing Innovation Award Winner will be announced from among the winners in each of these categories at the 2015 Housing Innovation Awards Ceremony held on October 6, 2015, at the EEBA Excellence in Building Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado. We were thrilled to be chosen as a Grand Winner in 2014, and our fingers are crossed to win this distinction again this year.
You can learn more about our winning entries by browsing the excellent U.S. Department of Energy Tour of Zero case studies:
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