(Nan’s Note: A zero-energy house is built with fewer materials than a standard home and produces as much energy as it uses over the course of a year. This is an amazing, doable goal to shoot for, and I’d like to see more homes built this way. My only complaint with the home in this article is the size. Although it is green-built, at almost 4,000 square feet, it still uses more resources than a home of 2,000 square feet, or smaller. Having grown up in a large house, where half of the space was rarely used, and naturally being resourceful and frugal, I am a compact-home advocate. Other than this home’s size drawback, I am all for zero-energy design!)
By Laura Snider
SpringLeaf community will be 100 percent sun-powered
Local developer Ron Monahan stood outside the first of 12 homes he and his business partner plan to build in a new north Boulder subdivision and talked about his vision: “We’re bringing this to the masses.”
“This” is a zero-energy home. It’s a house built with less lumber and more insulation; with recycled countertops and bamboo cabinets; with a geothermal system and a 10-kilowatt solar array. And it’s built in what will become the first zero-energy neighborhood in Boulder, and likely, one of the first in the country.
Read the entire article at The Daily Camera.
