EEBA's High Performance Home Blog

Last weekend EEBA Executive Director, Nancy Bakeman, had the privilege of attending the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon Design Challenge in Golden, Colorado. Over 400 people with a wide variety of backgrounds were in attendance at what Bakeman says was an “energizing and inspiring” event. “These kids are brilliant, and it was such a cool experience to see,” says Bakeman. Before the event even began, teams had to produce a 60+ page report outlining all the details of their project. The weekend itself was packed with events, tours of the National Renewable Energy Lab, presentations and some fun team challenges. On Saturday Bakeman listened to many of the amazing presentations and had a chance to talk with the students. First place awards were handed out to the Design Challenge teams in six different categories on Sunday morning during breakfast. In addition, 11 teams in the Build Challenge were announced that are able to move forward with their... read more

From October 1-3 builders, architects, educators, manufacturers and energy geeks from around the country will descend upon Denver, Colorado for the 37th Annual High Performance Home Summit. EEBA is offering a 25% discount on the already reduced rate - but only through Earth Day, Monday, April 22nd! This year’s theme, Reach for the Summit: A Future Where Every Home is High Performing, Healthy & Resilient, is appropriately titled - Colorado is home to over 50 fourteeners (mountain peaks exceeding 14,000 feet). The conference theme will focus on the following goals: The Trek In A commitment to defining and building high performance homes Base Camp Knowing where you are and identifying your goals Acclimatization Understanding the methodologies, materials, and strategies to achieve success The Summit Verifiable performance and measured success Our host hotel will be the Embassy Suites Denver Downtown. It is conveniently located less than a mile from Denver... read more

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be abuzz this weekend, April 12-14, 2019, as hundreds of students descend upon Golden, Colorado for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. 38 colleges will be represented from around the world including Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, Panamá, England, and Brazil will join teams from the U.S. in this highly competitive event. Competing teams will have spent 1-2 academic semesters creating solutions for real-world issues in the building industry. Teams will present their designs to a panel of industry experts in one of six building type categories: Suburban Single-Family, Urban Single-Family, Attached Housing, Mixed-Use Multifamily, Elementary School, or Office Building. Innovation, cost-effectiveness, time to build, quality, resilience, grid-interactivity, efficiency, and local responsiveness are all areas in which each team will be judged. A winner will be chosen in each category, in addition to an... read more

When I take a look around the construction industry today, I admit I’m pretty surprised if a builder has not implemented some kind of energy efficiency standards into their building practices. Of course, this was not always the case. The emergence of many of the energy efficiency programs in the 80’s and 90’s were a direct result of the energy crisis in the 70’s. Policymakers in Washington were motivated by a new level of environmentalism as efforts were made to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels. A specific challenge drove the industry to work on solutions. And even with the strides that have been made in the energy efficiency sector, it still remains far from perfect. But that’s what progress is all about, right? It’s solid, incremental changes, and constantly pushing the bar higher. The most dire challenge currently facing the U.S. (and other countries around the world) is housing affordability. Both in our inability to create it fast enough, and the inability... read more