PROJECT DESCRIPTION
By
David Frey/Aspen Daily News
Correspondent text - 9/12/04
CARBONDALE - Architect Steve Novy set out to make the Volkswagen Beetle
of houses. He wanted something that was cheap, efficient, durable, comfortable,
and kind of cool looking. And he wanted something that could be made
again and again.
The result is a pair of three-bedroom, two-bath homes being built to
be energy efficient and still low cost - perfect for affordable housing
projects. Novy built the so-called "NextGen" homes at Blue
Creek Ranch. They're part of Garfield County's affordable housing program,
and he's pitching similar homes for Aspen's Burlingame affordable housing
project.
One Blue Creek Ranch home - Novy calls it "H1" - would be
simply cheap and energy efficient, with extra insulation, less construction
waste and passive solar heating.
The other, "H2," is a cut above, with solar hot water panels,
photovoltaic cells for electricity, and a highly efficient boiler with
radiant heat and triple-pane windows.
It may not quite be a "zero energy home," a house that generates
all its own electricity, but Novy's team hopes it can produce half its
electricity with photovoltaics, feeding power back to the grid when
energy isn't being used, and produce three quarters of its hot water
system using solar. They hope it will also be 60 percent more efficient
than building codes require.
The other home is meant to be 35 percent more efficient.
When they homes are finished, the Massachusetts-based Building Science
Corporation and the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory
will monitor them for a few years to see how they fare.
The coolest thing about the houses, Novy said, is there isn't anything
particularly cool about them. "Nothing here is cutting edge,"
he said. "We're talking about systems that have been used over
and over again and combining them in the right way," Novy said.
For builders, one of the biggest sources of cost savings is as mundane
as the framing. Studs are a regular two feet apart throughout the homes,
meaning less wood is needed. Measurements are based on two-foot increments,
so boards can be ordered to length, meaning less waste. Homeowners will
find savings in extra insulation put outside the house, more efficient
insulation inside the house using blown-in insulation instead of Fiberglas,
and a crawl space sealed off and temperature regulated, eliminating
cold ground beneath the floor. At the high performance home, cost savings
in building materials and excavation costs are put back into hot water
solar panels hidden in a window awning and photovoltaic cells tucked
discretely in a corner of the roof.
"There is a stigma that you can't make major improvements in energy
efficiency without spending a lot of money up-front, but new innovations
in home design are erasing that stigma," said Joani Matranga, of
the Community Office on Resource Efficiency based in Aspen and Carbondale.
The group was a partner in the project.
The idea was to build a highly efficient house that wouldn't look out
of place, Novy said. "People expect curb appeal first," he
said. "If you drive up and it just wows you, that's all that matters."
He threw in things like pitched roofs and vaulted ceilings, elements
that might cut down on some efficiency, but add comfort.
"We're trying to make it as efficient as we can but still make
it an enjoyable house," said Scott Young, superintendent with Aspen's
Fenton Construction, which is building the homes.
The project has brought together a long list of partners that includes
the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program and Million
Solar Roofs program; the Home Depot Foundation, which provided a $25,000
grant; and local solar, design, lighting and electric experts, many
of whom donated their time. Blue Creek Ranch donated the land for the
homes. Garfield County waived some fees and included it in its affordable
housing program.
That's not something every builder can expect, Novy admitted. But, he
said, now the designs can be used as a prototype to repeat elsewhere
in the valley, and the plans are available to other developers. Novy
is also holding seminars on the building techniques throughout the valley.
"Yeah, it cost us a little bit more, but we can now go through
this process with almost no additional cost," he said.
David Frey can be reached at gordonfrey@aspendailynews.com.
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