Green Builder Media’s Call for Entries is now open—enter your high-performance project, standout community, innovative product, or Sustainability Superhero today! Since its inception eleven years ago, Green Builder Media’s Home of the Year and Sustainability Awards program has set the standard for recognizing excellence in residential performance, quality, intelligence, and sustainability. If you have a project, product, or professional that you think is worth of recognition, we encourage you to submit your entry today! Award winners will receive coverage in the Jan/Feb 2020 issue of Green Builder magazine and recognition at a special gala event in Las Vegas on January 19, 2020 and at Green Builder Media’s Sustainability Symposium: Improving the Human Condition on January 20, 2020. Entries must be received no later than October 11. For more information about the Green Builder Sustainability Awards, contact Mike Collignon at mcollignon@greenbuildercoalition.org. More on the program … Green Builder Media’s annual Home of the Year and Sustainability Award winners never fail to delight and inspire. Featuring a broad spectrum of beautiful residential projects that incorporate advanced technologies, building science best practices, and forward-thinking design strategies, as well as innovative green products and pioneering professionals, our annual program highlights the best in sustainability. Earlier this year, the overall winner of our 11th annual awards program was a lovely Riverfront Masterpiece that is truly one with the environment. Located in Bend, OR, the Rowe-Toogood residence takes advantage of the site’s natural features—including a river that runs through the backyard—and optimizes access to sunlight to achieve the greatest passive solar benefits possible in winter and summer. High efficiency lighting, appliances, mini-split heat pump, windows and insulation, as well as a full solar array, make this house net zero energy, resulting in power bills of $9 per month in the summer and less than $100 in the winter—even in Bend’s harsh climate. Thrive Home Builder’s Panacea Retreat in Denver, CO was also recognized for achieving superior energy performance at an affordable price point. At 3,200 square feet, this midcentury modern home has a HERS® rating of 8 due to its full spectrum of energy efficient products and systems, including 9.76 kW of solar and battery storage. Thrive estimates that the home’s energy efficiency features save owners approximately $4,600 per year in utility bills, when compared to the operating cost of a non-green home. Pioneering green products also received Sustainability Awards, including EcoSmart Solution’s geothermal energy system, which uses an innovative GeoGrid to combine geothermal heating and cooling into a system that cuts power consumption by up to 70% in a home; leak detection and water management technologies from both Phyn and FLO Technologies; high performance ductless mini-split solutions from Mitsubishi Electronic Trane; and SolarEdge’s single-phase EV charging inverter. And last but certainly not least, the fun loving and visionary architect Nathan Good was selected as our Sustainability Superhero in celebration of his illustrious career designing some of the nation’s most beautiful sustainable homes. Good’s firm, Nathan Good Architects, also works with builders and county officials to reduce waste and encourage construction site recycling, ensuring that materials like clean scrap wood, cardboard and Styrofoam packaging end up at appropriate recycling or repurposing sites.
