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September 2002
Habitat Metro Denver used Building America's Integrated Design Approach to build this award-winning home.
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This energy-efficient home in Westminster, Colorado built by Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, includes energy-efficient appliances, compact fluorescent lights, programmable thermostats, and insulated windows. But advice from several of the Lab's researchers and contributions from businesses make this home one of the most energy-efficient houses ever built by Habitat.
"This was a great opportunity for us," said NREL Building America researcher Paul Norton. "We are always testing the energy efficiency of a home, we rarely get the chance to build one." NREL's managing partners, Midwest Research Institute (MRI), Battelle and Bechtel, sponsored the home's construction by providing the sponsorship fee. NREL's commitment called for 3,000 volunteer hours to help build the house. Volunteers were recruited from NREL and DOE staff, friends, and family members.
Staff from NREL, including Norton and researcher Paul Torcellini, worked directly with Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver on the design of the Ruibal home. Norton and Torcellini met monthly with the design team to review ideas and modify the design to make it even more energy efficient. "We went over the plans point by point to see what was doable and volunteer friendly," Norton said.
The Ruibal family home stands as an example of energy efficiency, thanks to its radiant wall heating system, solar thermal collectors for hot water, increased attic ventilation, light-colored roofing shingles and the solar tube skylight for the bathroom donated by Solartube International, Inc.
"The bathroom skylight reflects light into the house and takes the place of a light fixture since daylighting is one of the easier applications of solar energy," Torcellini said. NREL researcher Byron Stafford worked with Astro Power, producer of the world's largest solar electric cells, on their donation of a 1.6-kilowatt photovoltaic system. This $15,000 system will generate about one-third to half of the electricity the family will use. Icynene Inc., manufacturer of Icynene foam, donated $3,000 in insulation to be used in the Ruibal home. Icynene is a plastic insulation material similar in chemical composition to the material used in pillows and mattresses. Upon application, Icynene fills cracks and crevices within the frames. Icynene takes minutes to cure and adheres to virtually everything.
"The insulation expands to completely fill the walls," Torcellini said. "The result is a well insulated house."
Advanced Hydronics, Inc. provided a radiant wall heating system for the home at a fraction of its usual cost. The local company provided the system design and installation and coordinating donations of equipment from Heat Transfer Products, Shamrock Sales, Wirsbo Companies, Dahl Plumbing Supply, and the Rocky Mountain Radiant Panel Association. In addition, Alchemy Energy, Inc provided the solar domestic hot water system, including the collectors, storage tank, and mechanical systems, at greatly reduced cost.
The Colorado Energy Assistance Foundation, a long-time supporter of Habitat for Humanity, paid for the radiant wall heating system as well as the solar domestic hot water system and energy efficient upgrade for the Ruibal's clothes washer. See Habitat Metro Denver for more information (PDF 626 KB). Download Acrobat Reader.
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