Without a doubt, EcoFutures Building has been a leading innovator in the development of energy efficient homes building in the Colorado area – and certainly an exemplary act to follow across the country. They have been designing and building Net Zero Energy Homes since 2005, not only for private clients but also for professionals and the public for education and motivation.  By proving that homes for all income levels can be built to produce more energy than they use, Ecofutures has set precedents that challenge the housing industry to move toward carbon neutrality – now.

EcoFutures is founded on the principles of “comfort, health, durability, value, and energy bills too low to matter” – and we couldn’t be more proud to be part of some of their whole-building system design solutions for both new construction and retrofit projects. To help with super-insulation, optimal solar control, and maximum air tightness, EcoFutures have used full-frame high R-value windows, fiberglass frame SeriousWindows in several of their Net Zero Energy projects (EcoFutures may refer to them as Alpen Glass for earlier projects on ).

2005 Solar Harvest, Award-Winning HERS (-3) Net Zero Energy Home

Solar Harvest was designed and built with the overriding intentions of not only creating a safe and comfortable living space, but also of becoming a model in sustainable home construction – in this case, a net zero energy home.

Evergreen HERS (-3) Net Zero Energy Home

This net zero energy home is located in the foothills just west of Denver at 7,700 feet, where the cold and windy site conditions challenge high performance home construction. Beautifully designed by Doerr Architecture in a traditional southwest adobe style, hidden within, the home boasts the best techniques and technologies to optimize both energy efficiency and sustainable design. Fiberglass SeriousWindows with directionally tuned, super-insulating SeriousGlass was just one of the solutions implemented. Others included the use of natural and reclaimed products and fan coil in ducts that use solar-heated water to transfer heat to the fresh air stream.  Read more about EcoFuture’s whole-systems design approach.

South Boulder Deep Energy Retrofit
SeriousWindows installed in this renovated and energy retrofitted house from the 1970s helped to create a home capable of producing enough energy to satisfy domestic needs, power a future electric car, and still have a net-negative annual energy balance – that means the owners no longer have energy bills.  Read all about it on Daily Camera.

We were very fortunate to be asked to participate and lend our SeriousWindows to two special projects of ABC’s Extreme Makover: Home Edition. Led by partners G&M Contracting, Burch Builders Group, and thousands of volunteers, the new construction of the Fishing School community center and the Tripp Family home, both located in under-served neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., was completed in just 7 days.

What makes these two projects exceptionally special is that both were built to be as near net-zero energy as possible. Energy measures included SIPS panels provided by Winter Panel, solar electric systems from Aurora Energy, insulated Concrete Foundation forms from Leep Green, and super-insulating high R-value windows – which is why we were asked to contribute SeriousWindows.

The projects needed windows of R-6.0 and high air infiltration requirements for maximum air tightness. R-value measures the insulation value of a window (the inverse of U-value); the higher the R-value, the better. To put into perspective, a typical dual pane low-E window is an R-value of R-2.0, while ENERGY STAR® 2010 standards for windows require a minimum R-value of R-3.3.

The show airs on February 14, 8PM EST, on ABC.  Check Extreme Makeover Home Edition online.

See our pictures from the demolition and construction of the Fishing School and Tripp Family home.  More photos here and here.

More information on Near Net-Zero Energy goals of the projects and our press coverage.

Watch Clean Skies video coverage of the work taking place last August.