Gov. Bill Ritter today announced that the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) along with more than 50 statewide partners has been has been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for the second consecutive year.

Colorado’s program was selected for its success in supporting the construction of energy-efficient ENERGY STAR New Homes. These homes are typically 20 percent to 30 percent more efficient than standard homes, improving quality and comfort while reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

“Congratulations to our many outstanding statewide partners and the GEO for this award,” Gov. Ritter said. “Energy efficiency is one of the most important components of Colorado’s New Energy Economy. Building new homes that save energy and money means jobs in the efficiency industry. It also bolsters our energy security and protects our environment and climate.”

The EPA has linked significant cost and pollution savings to its ENERGY STAR program. Last year alone Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $17 billion on their energy bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 30 million vehicles.

In 2009, the GEO partnered with more than 50 community sponsors – including local governments, non-profits, utilities, real estate professionals, homebuilders, home energy raters – on the construction of ENERGY STAR qualifying new homes. The hard work of partnering organizations has made the program successful across Colorado.

“Chaffee County is really benefiting from its partnership in the ENERGY STAR program.  Due to the support from the Governor’s Energy Office many of our new homes are being built to ENERGY STAR standards,” said Kathryn Wadsworth, Chaffee County ENERGY STAR Coordinator. “Chaffee County is committed to energy efficiency and conservation efforts and the ENERGY STAR New Home program is helping us meet that goal.”

The work of GEO and its partners resulted in 2,350 new homes in Colorado earning the ENERGY STAR label in 2009, making for a record of nearly 33 percent market share of all new home construction – and up dramatically from 8 percent in 2006. The GEO also helped register more than 70 new Colorado ENERGY STAR New Homebuilders in 2009, pushing the total of qualified ENERGY STAR homebuilders to more than 356 in the state.

Other accomplishments the EPA considered in its ENERGY STAR award to the GEO and its Colorado partners:

• The GEO and partners presented more than 57 ENERGY STAR trainings to more than 1,880 Colorado building industry professionals.

• Highlights of Colorado’s efforts include grants from GEO totaling $248,500 for training, education and promotional efforts statewide.

• The program established 11 regional ENERGY STAR New Homes Programs in Colorado, supported by 54 local sponsors, including cities, counties, utilities and nonprofits.

“The GEO and its partners are leading the way in creating and implementing solutions to climate change through greater energy efficiency,” said Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation. “The Colorado program has helped its customers understand how they can help protect our environment while saving energy and money.”

The ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards are given to a variety of organizations to recognize their efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution, resulting in significant cost savings. Award winners are selected from more than 17,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program.

For additional information, visit www.coloradoenergystarhomes.com/

Looking for an introduction to municipal green building programs or energy efficiency codes?  In October of 2009, David Neiger of Populus Sustainable Design Consulting traveled to Idaho to present to the Hailey City Council and the Blaine County Board of County Commissioners regarding above-code energy programs and green building codes. The presentation is a great introduction for elected officials and municipalities to the world of green building.

Watch the full presentation on the Environmental Resource Center’s website: Creating a Green Building Program.

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.

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.

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.

We are pleased to announce that Populus Sustainable Design Consulting will be teaching an ENERGY STAR for New Homes Energy Design Workshop in Denver on December 7th.  The Energy Design Workshop is sponsored by the City and County of Denver, the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and will highlight How to Achieve Above-Code Home Energy Performance within a Budget.  For more information, including how to RSVP for this free workshop, please download the Energy Design Workshop Brochure.

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.

A recent American Institute of Architects (“AIA”) study highlights the national trend toward green building programs since 2007.  According to an AIA survery, more than one in five U.S. cities (with populations of more than 50,000) report having programs in place that promote green building.  This number represents a 50% increase in municipal green building programs over the last two years.  The Western and Mountain regions lead the nation in the number of green building programs per state.  Given the size of the cities with green building programs, the impact of these sustainability programs reach about 53 million people.

To find out more about these sustainability and green building initiatives throughout the nation, see the AIA’s new report, Green Building Policy in a Changing Economic Environment, which also contains policies and recommendations to assist policymakers in advancing sustainability and green building.  You’ll also find case studies that highlight the green building programs in several cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, LA and Grand Rapids.

In light of the economic downturn during the last two years, AIA Executive Vice President / CEO, Christine McEntee, finds the results of the AIA’s survey encouraging and a sign “that cities are recognizing the economic benefits of energy-efficient buildings.”  The AIA is a prominent adopter of the 2030 Challenge and has committed to a goal of carbon neutral (zero energy) buildings by 2030, in addition to its goal that “all design projects will be sustainable as a matter of course.”

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.

What impact does window selection have on energy efficiency and sustainability?  What factors influence the energy performance of windows?  Populus Sustainable Design Consulting and SolarGlass Window & Door presented on these issues at last year’s USGBC Colorado Sustainability Conference.  Here is a description of that presentation:

The session will explain the implication of the DOE’s pending 2009 Energy Star changes for high altitude markets and review the product design responses planned by leading manufacturers.  Additionally, the session will discuss the interplay of the following factors on building envelop efficiency, sustainability, and occupant comfort: glazing to floor area ratios, dispersion of windows by elevation, glazing alternatives, frame materials, the often overlooked importance of quality installation

Attendees will come away with an understanding of what design elements should be given priority when developing a window solution for a given project, as well as the trade-offs associated with aesthetic, performance, and price considerations.

Included in the presentation will be an overview of the growing importance of performance-based measurements of building envelop efficiency (e.g.; Resnet’s Home Energy Rater modeling software) and how windows impact the HERS score.

USGBC Colorado has recently posted Populus & SolarGlass’s “Sustainable Window Selection” presentation on its website.  Of particular interest, on page 11 of the presentation, you will find a graph which demonstrates the specific concerns and trade-offs related to window selection for various ranges of desired HERS Index Scores.  Pages 13-18 contain a case study which analyzes the interaction of window selection and mechanical systems as it relates to home energy performance.

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.

Tomorrow, the Boulder Green Building Guild (“BGBG”) will be hosting a brown bag lunch regarding Xcel Energy’s rebate programs for energy efficiency upgrades and ENERGY STAR for New Homes.

Populus participates in Xcel’s ENERGY STAR for New Homes programs and several of our clients have homes that are currently enrolled in the program.  There has been a recent change to the Xcel ENERGY STAR for New Homes program (the exclusion of PV from the HERS Score) that has caused many of our clients (especially our Boulder clients where the rebate standards are higher) to no longer qualify for rebates or to qualify for substantially lower rebates.  All Populus clients, regardless of whether they receive Xcel rebates, receive complimentary framing inspections and infrared thermography through participation in the Xcel ENERGY STAR for New Homes program.

If you have questions about the Xcel ENERGY STAR for New Homes program or changes to the program, we encourage you to attend the BGBG’s Brown Bag tomorrow where you will have the opportunity to meet Todd Gamboa, who administers the program on behalf of Xcel Energy.

For more information, or to register, visit the BGBG’s website.

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.

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.