An ambitious effort at “affordable green” broke ground in La Plata County last week. On Nov. 13, Colorado Housing Inc. and the Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County started construction the region’s first net-zero energy affordable home.
November 19, 2009, by Will Sands
Published by The Durango Telegraph
Last Friday, the partnership set off on the construction of an affordable home that will offset all of the energy it consumes through renewable sources such as on-site solar thermal and solar electric panels. CHI and the RHA collaborated on the design of the single-family home, which will be sold to a local family at or below 80 percent of the area median income.
The goal of building a net-zero energy affordable home originated from a request from the Town of Ignacio Board of Trustees. The lot on which the home will be constructed originally belonged to the Town of Ignacio. During negotiations with CHI for the sale of the land, the town explicitly requested that the home be “built green.”
In order to reach the ambitious goal of net-zero energy, the home will employ several energy efficient construction methods and renewable energy systems. The walls and roof will be constructed of SIPS, (Structural Insulated Panel System), which has 125 percent the insulation value required by code. The heating system will be a combination of passive solar gain supplemented with a geoexchange system tied to in-floor radiant heat. Domestic hot water will be powered by solar thermal panels with an electric back-up. Appliances will be powered by solar-electric panels.
At the groundbreaking, Ignacio Mayor George Whitt described the home as “a house of the future” and went on to say, “We’ve got a lot of houses to build in this area. We hope this will rub off on other people who will come by, take a look at it, and use it as a model.”
CHI Executive Director Julie Simmons thanked the town for its support of affordable housing and recognized the success of CHI’s partnership with the RHA. The partnership allowed them to overcome the two greatest obstacles to building in Ignacio: recruiting buyers and finding land. “CHI has been trying to build in Ignacio for eight years,” she said. “This is the first and hopefully isn’t the last.”
CHI and the RHA are currently screening potential homebuyers.
Source: The Durango Telegraph