EEBA's High Performance Home Blog

Parsing Signals From Latest Data The outlook for housing in the midst of the COVID-19-induced recession is murky at best. The Housing Tides team has been exploring a wide swath of data from publicly-available sources as we try to make sense of the latest developments. Taken as a whole, we note that housing has performed admirably given the scope of the economic challenges at hand. Lowest-Ever Mortgage Rates Support Prices, Prevent Inventory Glut As Jeff Whiton explained for the Housing Tides blog in May, the dearth of housing inventory in recent years has proven a tremendous advantage for home sellers – both new and existing – during the present crisis. As he suggested, home prices have thus far remained resilient, with Redfin reporting the Denver median sales price was $435k, a year-over-year increase of 1.9%. Prices have surely been buoyed by Denver inventory that totaled just 2.1 months of supply in May. An EnergyLogic survey of quick move-in homes among major.

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For the last five years, Team Zero, also known as the Net Zero Energy Coalition, has been collecting data on Zero Energy residential buildings in the US and Canada. Together, this group of non-profits, industry stakeholders, and associations are collaborating to focus their “zero-related ambitions” on broad industry-led national awareness of Zero Energy. Inventory collection for 2019 will end on August 15, 2020. Eligible projects include: Single–family and multifamily homes New, retrofit, or combined Projects in planning, design, or construction phase, or completed Near-zero, zero-energy-ready, ZNE, or net positive projects If you’re unsure if your project is eligible, simply upload the project data and you will be advised if they need more information. You can quickly and easily enter your project information into their secure database. New this year, the database will be collecting additional information on solar adoption, fuel choices, and trends on... read more

This article can be found on the EnergyLogic website here Continuing the Discussion As introduced in last week’s blog, we’re further exploring income inequality and its effects on housing attainability. Read on below to hear more about what we and others think can be done to reach this important objective. Change may be more achievable during this period of disruption. Don’t Defer the Dream In 1990 as President of the Denver Home Builders Association and the Colorado President for what is now Lennar, I negotiated a groundbreaking agreement with the Federal Housing Administration to ensure that new homes were marketed without prejudice to all regardless of race or national origin. This agreement gained unanimous approval of the HBA’s Board of Directors because it was the right thing to do. We saw evidence of fair marketing practices become mainstream in advertising and direct contact with potential homebuyers. It seemed to me that we were making a lot of progress, as... read more

Adding energy storage to your home is, in many ways, surprisingly similar to buying a car. If I’m like most people, I’d look at quality and reliability, safety, and functionality — among other factors — before choosing my car. Price is typically not the primary concern, otherwise we would see the Chevy Spark outnumber other car models on the streets. When purchasing energy storage, you should use similar criteria to find the right solution for your home. Let’s take a closer look at each of these considerations and how to interpret them when shopping for home battery solutions. QUALITY AND RELIABILITY Nobody likes it when their car breaks down unexpectedly or must be taken in for service. Dealing with these issues costs you time, energy, and money. Thankfully, the right energy storage system can reduce these worries, or eliminate them altogether. By using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry, sonnen can provide the highest-quality and longest-lasting residential storage ... read more

Solar PV Installations Habitat for Humanity of Macon was recently awarded a $60,000 grant to install solar panels on 5 homes. In collaboration with Mercer University, funds were awarded by the All Points North Foundation to install low-cost grid-tied rooftop solar PV systems at no cost to homeowners. The PV systems should “offset 80-100 percent of each home’s annual energy needs, saving an estimated 6,400-kilowatt-hours of fossil fuel-sourced electricity, resulting in nearly $1,000 in savings per year for each homeowner.” The partnership with Mercer University’s Engineering for Development Program will allow students to have exposure to both Habitat for Humanity construction projects as well as the design and installation of solar PV systems. Improving Energy Security As part of the U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Program (SEP) grants, Habitat for Humanity in Kentucky recently received $67,000 to improve energy security and “support low-income families through... read more

Last month, students from 45 teams, representing 31 collegiate institutions, competed for bragging rights during the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. And they did all digitally. Teams work with various departments in their respective universities (sometimes partnering with other schools), faculty, industry partners, to create a design for a net-zero energy project in one of the following categories:

• Suburban Single-Family
• Urban Single-Family
• Mixed-Use Multifamily
• Attached Housing
• Office Building
• Elementary School

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We’ve all been spending a lot of time in our homes. A lot more than usual. And since our indoor air is five times more polluted than outdoor air, any technology that can help confirm we’re breathing in good air, is a good thing. Molekule, a “science company” headquartered in San Francisco, has created an air purifier that uses nanotechnology and a dual-filtration system to destroy pollutants such as allergens, VOCs, viruses and bacteria. Studies show the air purifier can actually “capture, oxidize and destroy black mold.” The company’s proprietary technology is called PECO, or Photo Electrochemical Oxidation. It works at a molecular level to destroy pollutants and utilizes the same free radicals used to kill cancer cells. Their flagship residential product, Molekule Air, can be used in rooms up to 600 sq. ft. while the Molekule Air Mini+ is best for rooms up to 250 sq. ft. Molekule offers a quiet, energy-efficient option to conventional air purifiers. Research completed by... read more

If you’re looking for ways to connect professionally with others during the remainder of the quarantine, take a gander at some of these upcoming online events. Whether it’s a conference, webinar, or pre-recorded resource, we can help you find something that allows you to stay informed, continue to learn, and network with others in your industry. Yesterday, Suzanne Shelton presented on “Marketing to a Changed Market” where she shared some brand new insights on what Americans are seeing as needs and wants in a home. She also laid out a framework for how you can position your company to align with and be successful in the post-Covid-19 market. If you missed this one, you can watch it here. And stay tuned as EEBA will continue offering informative webinars in their Covid-19 Strategy Series (see below for an upcoming webinar on April 21). Connect with them on LinkedIn and Facebook to stay up-to-date. Today, Wednesday April 15 at 11 am PT / 2pm ET, Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect at the... read more

As we wrote about in a previous blog post, EEBA has partnered with Professional Builder Magazine and Thrive Home Builders on the Ultimate Z.E.N. Home. This cutting-edge model home will be open for tours during the EEBA summit in Denver in late September. As a preview, the magazine will be publishing four one-page articles about the systems used in the home. The first article is posted below and can also be found at the magazine's website.

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"Altus at The Quarter," a townhome community consisting of 46 units, recently opened in Atlanta, Georgia and will serve as real-world research for understanding "how emerging smart technologies and distributed energy resources can impact energy efficiency, energy management and resiliency." The townhomes include PV panels, battery storage, heat pump water heaters, and other energy efficient building elements - all managed by a "grid-interactive control system" developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory ("ORNL") and the Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office ("BTO"). Oak Ridge National Laboratory was originally established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project. They are currently managed and operated by UT-Battelle as a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the DOE. ORNL supports DOE's national missions of scientific discovery, clean energy, and security. The DOE's Building Technologies Office leads a vast network of research and... read more