Populus is pleased to announce that Wash Park Green, a luxury duplex by Sean Smith & Company in Denver’s trendy Washington Park neighborhood, has achieved certification in the Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge program.

The Builders Challenge is a greenbuilding certification program offered by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its “Building America: Research Towards Zero Energy Homes” initiative.  According to the DOE, the “Builders Challenge provides a flexible, turnkey solution to builders wishing to excel in energy and quality performance in their markets.”  The program features the EnergySmart Home Scale (or “E-Scale”) which provides an “MPG” display of superior energy performance.  In addition, Builders Challenge Quality Criteria are designed to ensure that energy efficiency measures are implemented in a manner that also addresses durability, comfort and indoor air quality.  The DOE also provides technical resources for builders to learn skills to build high-performance, quality homes and provides marketing tools to certified projects.

As with many greenbuilding certification programs, the Builders Challenge requires independent third-party inspections by accredited energy raters.  To be certified, projects must score 70 or lower on the E-Scale, which is the equivalent of a Home Energy Rating Score (or “HERS”) that is 30% more efficient than a home built to code.  In addition, projects must implement additional measures to increase durability, health, safety and comfort.

Populus Sustainable Design Consulting and Sean Smith & Company are both partners in the DOE’s Builders Challenge.  If you are interested in pursuing Builders Challenge certification for your project, please contact Populus at 303-325-7650 or info@popboulder.com.  Learn more about Wash Park Green.

Populus is a Boulder-based, full-service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus is your partner in high-performance design solutions, specializing in energy efficiency codes, green building certifications and LEED for Homes™ training.  Contact Populus at news@popboulder.com.

Tags: Builders Challenge, Green Building, High-Performance Home, Home Energy Rating System ("HERS"), Sustainable Design

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Green Building, High-Performance Homes, Home Energy Rating System ("HERS"). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.