Saturday, November 20, 2010

Best Green/Energy Efficient Home in CT!!

On November 9th, 2010, Jeremy and I attended the HOBI Awards (Home Building Industry Awards) sponsored by the Connecticut Home Builders Association.  Our general contractor, Dave Nugent from Greenworks Builder, won the award for the "Best Green Energy-Efficient House" in CT for our house.  It was exciting to see our house displayed on the huge screen in the banquet room at the Aqua Turf, where everyone was dressed to the nines and people we didn't even know where speaking of our house with the highest praise.  The food wasn't too bad either.  We were amazed by many of the award winners, and even the categories, "Best Spec House Over $6 Million" or "Best Custom Home Over 12,000 square feet".  I am NOT kidding about these categories.  Many homes had jaw-dropping details and it reminded me of the incredible wealth in this state.  I guess a recession just doesn't effect people who can afford 12,000 square foot homes and the costs to maintain them.  It's no wonder that the loudest gasp from the crowd occurred when the emcee was describing our house and stated that we built it for $125 a square foot.  That budget likely barely covered the landscaping costs for some of the homes.  Regardless of how out of our element we were, we enjoyed the night and were pleased that Dave won such a prestigious award.  

2 comments:

applepea said...

Well congratulations. I saw you got second place for the CCEF competition. I believe you two are the undisputed winners. I enjoyed your home tour and hope to get a solar thermal system going to retrofit my home in West Hartford out of propane....

We share a passion for such "every man" projects..and the reward of doing the math.....I remain amazed at the wealth to experiment with these solutions and the reality of slow adoption.

In 1974, I built a home in vermont, passive solar, R-38, no infiltration with wall system similar to yours.

Good luck.

Jeremy and Karann said...

Thanks, applepea!
Yeah, I'm amazed that our earthbox idea hasn't caught on since the first trials and research conducted in the 80's by DOE, and explained in many articles, proved it was inexpensive and a huge energy saver.
Structural Insulated Panels too...my husband and I can't believe anyone would build a house without them. The extra cost is negligible, it's pre-fab characteristics produce far less waste, and the reward for the superior insulating factors is evident every month with my utility bills (or lack there of).