Tag: Materials

  • Florida Contractor Builds the First Luxury Net Zero Energy Home

    Marc Rutenberg, the CEO of the Florida company Marc Rutenberg Homes, has recently successfully designed and built a luxury home that complies with and even surpasses all Energy Star standards and is LEED Platinum certified. The Castaway III, as the house is called, measures 4,552-square feet, which is about 3,100 square feet larger than the…

  • Salvaged Old-World Charm Meets Modern-Day Efficiency in S.C. Cabin

    Jay Hicks didn’t miss a beat when he lost his South Carolina cabin to a fire. He decided to build off of the 80-year-old original structure’s partial wall that had remained standing and devised a plan to have Addison Homes design and build a high-performance, energy efficient home that would have an old-world charm. Fitting…

  • Net Zero ADAPT Home Reduces the Need for Climate Control in the Chihuahua Desert

    One of twenty teams that have been chosen to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 competition, Team Texas is comprised of eighty students from multiple disciplines at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and El Paso Community College. Their submission is the $250,000 ADAPT home, a single family dwelling that takes…

  • Georgetown Rowhouse Renovation Becomes LEED Platinum Showpiece

    In the heart of a densely populated Washington, D.C. neighborhood that has easy access to public transportation and bicycle routes, this historically-protected Georgetown rowhouse (circa 1800s) received a restoration treatment that brought it into the 21st century and helped it to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Environmentally sustainable modifications to the 3,300 square foot home came in…

  • Net Zero BARNagain Uses Reclaimed Barn Wood to Achieve LEED Platinum

    Dubbed BARNagain,  this LEED Platinum-certified home was designed by Rick Hauser of In.Site:Architecture to meet the client’s request for an energy-efficient house that utilized materials from a deteriorating barn for its structure and skin. The main structural elements of the home were built using timber frames, while reclaimed barn siding served as the exterior skin.…