On Monday night, David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting presented regarding high performance green homes to a sold out crowd at USGBC Colorado’s monthly Monday evening series at REI Denver.  The topic of the evening was “How to Build an Energy Efficient, Green Home.”

Neiger and Smith answer questions regarding green homes after Monday night's presentation.

Sean Smith of Sean Smith & Company presented alongside Neiger, sharing lessons learned as a LEED Gold homebuilder. In addition to discussing the the challenges and opportunities of building green homes, Smith presented data regarding the increased costs of high-performance systems.  A case study for a recent project demonstrated how a home can be built to achieve a level of energy performance that is 35% more efficient than code in a cost neutral manner (over the 30 year term of a mortgage).  When Smith added modest fuel price escalation  to the equation, the energy efficiency upgrades became cash positive, offering a healthy return on investment.

David Neiger, who has consulted on high performance green homes nationally, gave the crowd a “behind-the-scenes” look at residential energy modeling, describing how home energy performance can be measured to create a “miles per gallon” rating for a house.  In addition, he discussed the various green home building programs available to architects and builders, including USGBC’s LEED for Homes program, the EPA’s ENERGY STAR and Indoor airPLUS programs and the DOE’s Builders Challenge certification.  While these programs can offer market differentiation, they also offer tremendous value to a project team looking to employ best practices for managing durability, indoor air quality and moisture concerns, while optimizing home energy performance.

Populus presents to USGBC Colorado's first sold-out REI Monthly Monday seminar

If you’d like to learn more about LEED for Homes, David Neiger will be teaching a LEED for Homes Intensive Training over three Monday evenings in March 2010 in Boulder, Colorado.  Learn more on the Populus website.  Interested in pursuing a green certification for a project or having energy analysis performed on a proposed project?  Give Populus a call at 303-325-7650 or contact Populus by email at info@popboulder.com.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Want to learn more about building green, high-performance homes?  David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting will be presenting at the USGBC Colorado Chapter’s Monday night REI series in February regarding high-performance homes.  For more information and how to RSVP, see the information below from USGBC Colorado regarding this upcoming event:

Please join USGBC CO Chapter for the first Monday event of 2010!!

Monday February 1, 2010

6-8pm at REI

Presenting

HOW TO BUILD AN EFFICIENT & HIGH PERFORMING HOUSE

(aka GREEN, LEED, ENERGY STAR or just BEST PRACTICES!)

This session will focus on what it takes to build a LEED certified home. Whether you are interested in building a LEED certified or ENERGY STAR qualified home or just want to understand how to build an ultra efficient home this session is for you.

Our speakers will talk about different degrees of building “green,” how to get subcontractors on board, how much more it really costs, what kind of time commitment is involved and whether it is any more difficult to build than the standard home we’ve all become accustomed to building.

Speakers are LEED gold homebuilder Sean Smith of Sean Smith & Company and David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting.

Sean Smith, Denver builder since 2000, made his start in the renovations and additions market.  After moving to new construction, Sean discovered a lack of attention to energy efficiency in the marketplace and decided to make it his forte.  He specializes in custom homes and spec projects that are high performing. Having built two LEED for Homes Gold Certified projects in Denver, Sean has another project pending final certification. Sean’s focus has shifted to optimizing energy performance through sound cost/benefit analysis, and by stressing the need for quality control at the ground level on construction sites.  Sean’s projects have also been certified under the Department of Energy’s Builder’s Challenge, and the EPA’s ENERGY STAR programs.

David Neiger is a Principal at Populus Sustainable Design Consulting, an energy performance and green building consulting firm based in Boulder, Colorado.  David holds an architecture degree from Pennsylvania State University, as well as certification as a RESNET Certified Home Energy Rater, RESNET Green Rater, BPI Certified Building Analyst, LEED AP and a LEED for Homes AP.

David has consulted on well over a hundred single and multi-family projects along the Colorado Front Range and has extensive experience managing LEED projects and working with architects and builders to achieve net-zero and above-code home performance.  As a recognized expert regarding home energy performance, David has presented to a variety of audiences and has trained municipalities, architects and builders nationally regarding green building and above-code energy performance.  David has served as a Subject Matter Expert to the USGBC in connection with its LEED for Homes program and currently acts as a Technical Advisor on the City of Boulder’s Climate Action Plan Strategy Residential Technical Team.

RESERVATIONS TO ATTEND CAN BE MADE at

http://www.usgbccolorado.org/metro/events-calendar.html

To assure a seat, please register online in advance

CAPACITY ATTENDANCE IS EXPECTED, SO RESERVE EARLY

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Just a reminder to all of our architects and builders that Populus Sustainable Design Consulting will be teaching its Energy Design Workshop in Denver tomorrow.  The workshop is sponsored by the City and County of Denver, the Governor’s Energy Office and the Environmental Protection Agency.   Populus’ Energy Design Workshop will familiarize participants with the HERS energy modeling process required for the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program and give architects and builders hands-on experience learning how to achieve above-code home energy performance within a budget.

Currently there are over sixty people registered for Populus’ workshop, but please contact Jack Sinclair at the City of Denver if you are interested in attending:  Jack.Sinclair@denvergov.org.  You can find more information about the workshop here.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Xcel Energy has clarified the program requirements for the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program.  Currently, the eligibility requirements for this rebate program are as follows:

• Residential unit (home) must be actively serviced by Xcel Energy natural gas in the State of Colorado
• At least one individual residential gas meter per unit/home must be installed and metered directly by Xcel Energy
• Structure must receive a qualified HERS rating, by an approved rater (Populus Sustainable Design Consulting is an approved rater in the program) and be submitted/approved by a RESNET HERS Provider in good standing (Populus handles this part for our clients)
• Homes that are connected to, and/or adjoin “conditioned common space” are not allowed (example: apartment buildings with interior hallways, foyers, and/or elevator shafts are not eligible)

In addition, Residential Science Resources, the company that administers the rebate program on behalf of Xcel Energy, has announced some upcoming changes to the Xcel ENERGY STAR for New Homes program, which are coming in 2010 (a specific date has not been announced):

• All participating homebuilders will be required to become an active ENERGY STAR partner (this is free of charge) as well as complete an online survey and release of data form.  The purpose of these requirements are to help Xcel Energy increase the marketing of ENERGY STAR homes throughout the state.
• Providing all homes participating in the program with no cost ENERGY STAR yard signs throughout the home’s construction.  Xcel Energy will provide signs at no cost to participating homebuilders adn arrange for installation and removal for each sign based on the construction dates provided by the HERS Raters (please provide Populus with construction dates to take advantage of this part of the program).
• $1,000 rebate per home that has a Whole House Evaporative Cooler installed as part of the ENERGY STAR New Homes Program.

If you have any questions about the Xcel Energy ENERGY STAR for New Homes Program, or would like to register projects through Populus Sustainable Design Consulting, please contact us at 303-325-7650 and we can answer your questions.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and municipal energy code consulting.  In addition, Populus offers an Energy Code Workshop for architects and municipalities, as well as LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

Join us for a free one hour workshop on designing high-performance green homes in Denver, followed by a wine and cheese networking reception.  Event will include a LEED for Homes plaque dedication by Deb Kleinman, Executive Director of the USGBC Colorado Chapter.

When: Thursday, October 22nd 6pm-8pm

Where: 233 South Washington Street, Denver, Colorado (LEED for Homes™ Gold, ENERGY STAR, Indoor Air Package and Builders Challenge Certified home)

Free Workshop Includes:

• Green features tour and building details discussion of a LEED for Homes Gold Certified Wash Park home by general contractor Sean Smith of Sean Smith & Company, LLC
• Behind-the-scenes explanation of how architects can use the Home Energy Rating System (“HERS”) as a tool to design high-performance homes by David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting
• Overview of available green home certification programs and the benefits to architects and homeowners of certification, including: LEED for Homes (USGBC), Builders Challenge (DOE), ENERGY STAR (EPA), and Indoor airPLUS (EPA).

Continuing Education for Architects: Under the State of Colorado’s rules for continuing education for state licensure renewal, this program meets the requirements for 1.0 HSW professional development unit (HSW).

RSVP by October 18^th at http://event.pingg.com/GreenHomesDenver or to laura@popboulder.com

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, LEED for Homes Green Rater services and LEED for Homes training.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.