2024 Housing Innovation Awards Part One: Blazing The Trail Award

Awarded to the builder with the most innovative use of technologies, materials, sensors, automation, and advanced controls to optimize the performance of the home.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office

The Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program kicked off in October by honoring some of the leading builder partners in the program at the Housing Innovation Awards (HIA), held at the Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) High-Performance Home Builder Summit. The 2024 awards recognized 24 award-winning projects from across the country. In addition, six grand winners were announced and recognized for their projects and leadership in supporting DOE’s overarching goals .

Blazing the Trail

Awarded to the builder with the most innovative use of technologies, materials, sensors, automation, and advanced controls to optimize the performance of the home.

Blazing the Trail

The Blazing the Trail award went to Daniel Colombini for his home in Ossining, New York. The project was a combination of old and new, using innovative strategies and technologies, along with recycled materials. The super-insulated envelope was achieved with Larsen trusses made from recycled materials and combined with advanced mechanical systems such as a heat pump water heater and energy recovery ventilator, along with 13.2 kW of solar panels and two storage batteries to achieve an Energy Rating Index (ERI) score of -9.

“The home’s innovative characteristics extend to climate resiliency as well as energy performance. In the garage, two ESS batteries provide both backup power and demand reduction capabilities. Standby power is important with increasing quantities of extreme weather events that often interrupt utility power in the area.”- Builder

Spring Valley Passive House

Project Address: Ossing, NY
Conditioned Square Footage:3,585 sqft
Number of Bedrooms: 3 Beds
Number of Bathrooms: 4.0 Baths
Number of Floors Above Grade: 2 Floors Above Grade
Home Type: Custom
Climate Zone Temperature: Mixed
Climate Zone Humidity: Humid

WITH PV

HERS Index: -9HERS (PV)
Average Monthly Energy Bill PV: $17
Annual Energy Cost Savings with PV: $8,950
30 Year Savings with PV: $373,95030 Year Savings (PV)
Built By: Daniel Colombini
Profile

KEY FEATURES

All-electric home
Energy / Heat recovery ventilator
Electric Vehicle Charger Installed or Wired for Charger
Heat pump water heater
PhotovoltaicsBattery storage
Triple-pane windows
Unvented insulated atticACH 50 < 2.5 or CFM50/SF of enclosure ≤ 0.25
Double Walls
Hot Water Recirculation Pump

SEE THE POSTER

Testimonials

Updated Program Documents

DOE releases updated program documents annually for the Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program that incorporate changes and clarifications to program requirements, many of which result from dialogue with the program’s builders and raters. The updated program Versions/Revisions will be required for projects with permit dates on or after January 1, 2025. The ZERH program has also released Policy Record documents for both the Single Family and Multifamily programs, which detail the major updates included in these revised documents and the rationale behind the changes. A webinar highlighting these changes and their impact on program compliance is available here.

Article posted by:

Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.