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Artistic Homes of Albuquerque, New Mexico, introduced energy-efficient models like this one in the city's year 2000 Parade of Homes. (Credit: Betsy Pettit)
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Having recently completed its third full year, New Mexico's Building America Partner Program (BAPP) has already registered 2,275 homes under the program. This represents almost a third of all the new homes built in Albuquerque each year.
Currently, 14 leading builders participate in the New Mexico BAPP. Their products vary widely in type and size, and customers range from the first-time home buyer to high-end custom home purchasers. The program also has 11 subcontractor partners, including Home Energy Rating System (HERS) raters, home designers, and heating, cooling, and insulation contractors. The New Mexico BAPP also conducts training sessions in collaboration with the New Mexico Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources to transfer research results to builders and subcontractors in cities throughout the state. The result is one of the best building programs in the country.
For Building America, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed five teams of builders, architects, scientists, and manufacturers who work together to research and implement innovations in full-scale systems engineering technology for housing. DOE funds the research and development (R&D) of new technologies, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides technical support, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory coordinates R&D outreach and implementation support.
The Building America Partner Program is committed to promoting the latest and most advanced technologies in residential construction. Its mission is to work with the residential building industry to produce communities of homes that use 30% to 50% less energy than those in an average residential community. In addition to reducing consumer energy bills, the program helps home builders reduce construction time and waste by as much as 50%. By using a systems engineering approach to design and construct homes, Building America and the BAPP implement innovative energy- and material-saving technologies that save homeowners and builders millions of dollars in energy and construction costs. And they help to provide a safe, comfortable, in-home environment. Through team efforts like the one in New Mexico, the BAPP is setting the standard for homebuilding in the 21st Century.
New Mexico's program was established in partnership with the Home Builders Association (HBA) of Central New Mexico in the wake of successful research projects carried out in the Albuquerque area by a team in the Building Science Consortium (BSC), which is a DOE Building America Program consultant, and Artistic Homes, a major Albuquerque builder. The HBA of Central New Mexico and the BSC team continue to provide technical assistance to the local BAPP, as well as advice and expertise to builders and their associates. By partnering with the Building America Program, Central New Mexico's HBA has combined some of the most important prescriptive methods of "green" building with a systems engineering approach to designing and constructing a home.
The BAPP is a comprehensive collaboration of five key building components, combined with performance-based construction and design techniques. Training and certification are required for builders and subcontractors to ensure that they incorporate green materials and practices and can properly install and build the home. These are the five components:
- Energy Conservation
- Indoor Air Quality
- Water Conservation
- Material Conservation
- Solid Waste Reduction
Builders that participate in the BAPP are required to build 100% of their homes to program requirements. These requirements are established as minimum standards developed specifically for the BAPP, but builders are encouraged to exceed them whenever possible. These standards are described in detail on the BAPP Web site and are grouped under the following 10 categories:
- Whole House Leakage
- Duct Leakage and Design
- Plan Review
- Pressure Balancing
- Windows
- Insulation
- HVAC
- Mechanical Ventilation
- Recommended Construction Techniques
- Environmental Guidelines
For more information, please see the following:
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