2024 Housing Innovation Awards Part Four: Off-the-Shelf Award

Awarded to the builder who best leverages readily available, off-the-shelf materials and systems to achieve advanced building science results.

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 .

Off-The-Shelf

Awarded to the builder who best leverages readily available, off-the-shelf materials and systems to achieve advanced building science results.

Off-the-Shelf

Howard Building Science from Granite Falls, North Carolina, was selected as the winner of the 2024 Off-the-Shelf award. During construction, this project optimized material and labor resources to deliver high performance at low cost. This included using in-house labor to quickly construct a small-footprint home. A key to this was a unique structural insulated panel system with a simple interlock cam-locks, pre-framed openings, and unique single-piece corners for a stronger and much more energy-efficient structure. This project is one of a series of homes that prove high-performance can be built and sold at a low price point, delivering more attainable housing for local residents – specifically first-time homebuyers.

“These are above-code, all-electric homes with high-efficiency inverter heat pumps for space conditioning, heat pump water heaters, ventless heat pump dryers, and induction ranges. With no wood burning or gas appliances, we have no concerns about carbon monoxide or other byproducts of combustion.”- Builder

Duke St. Cottage Two-Bedroom

Project Address: Granite Falls, NC
Conditioned Square Footage: 800 sq ft
Number of Bedrooms: 2 Beds
Number of Bathrooms: 1.0 Bath
Number of Floors Above Grade: 1 Floor Above Grade
Home Type: Affordable
Climate Zone Temperature: Mixed
Climate Zone Humidity: Humid

WITHOUT PV

HERS Index: 44 HERS
Average Monthly Energy Bill: $75
Annual Energy Cost Savings:$600
30 Year Savings: $25,650
Built By:
Howard Building Science, Inc.
Profile

KEY FEATURES

All-electric homeCompact (core) plumbing designEnergy / Heat recovery ventilatorElectric Vehicle Charger Installed or Wired for ChargerHeat pump water heaterSensor controls for better indoor air qualityStructural insulated panel (SIP) walls or walls and roofUnvented insulated attic

SEE THE POSTER

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.