A grant from Energy Outreach Colorado is improving the energy efficiency of affordable homes built in Colorado’s high-end mountain communities.

EOC contributed $33,000 to the Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen (CORE) to improve the energy efficiency of existing and future homes for working families and seniors. Partial funding of the grant went to developing blueprints for energy efficient housing at high altitude, making them available to other builders and measuring their success at making the homes’ energy bills more affordable. The plans were used to build nine of the 49 new homes at Blue Creek Ranch in Carbondale, Colorado, just 27 miles from Aspen.

For more information about obtaining and using the blueprints please contact CORE at
970-544-9808 or visit their website at www.aspencore.org.

The image above is the NextGen H2 home designed by NOVY Architects along with Betsy Pettit, AIA of Building Science Corporation and Gavin Brooke of Land + Shelter. With the help of Energy Outreach Colorado grant funding, the home includes energy efficiency features, such as increased insulation, high performance windows, advanced sealing and caulking, a high efficiency furnace and Xeric landscaping. It also utilizes solar energy in several ways, including a photovoltaic system, a solar hot water and space heating combo system, properly sized overhangs, and orientation specific glazing. The project won the AIA Colorado West Chapter Award of Merit in 2005.