Page 33 - Green Builder Magazine Sept-Oct 2021

DOE Annual Building Science Roundup
SILVER LININGS
A Place to

Breathe Easy

For allergy sufferers and chemical sensitive buyers, homes
like this one, with top-notch ventilation and air control, offer a
life-changing relocation.

HIS IS it!” proclaimed the little is huge with having a three-year old and been recognized with DOE Housing Inno-
girl as she pranced through the definitely something we looked into before vation Awards annually since 2013. This
Trooms of the new home by Thrive purchasing,” notes the owner. “I have includes a Grand Award every year, as well
Home Builders. It wasn’t the model really been impressed in the fact that nei- as a total of four in the Production Home
home’s clever modern décor that caught ther of us have been sick this last winter category, one in the Affordable Home cat-
her attention. It was the awareness that season; we have stayed healthy through egory, and four in the Multifamily cate-
she had no allergy symptoms for the first this pandemic. This house has hugely gory, with one of those occurring in 2020.
time since her parents had begun touring impacted that since we have had to stay
houses in their search for a new home. inside so much lately.” QUALITY COMPONENTS,
Stories like this aren’t unique among Thrive Home Builders achieves high QUALITY RESULTS
Thrive homeowners; others tell of putting indoor air quality in part because it All 87 townhomes at WestRidge are
the inhalers in a drawer the day they move adheres to the high performance require- (or will be) constructed to DOE ZERH
in and not touching them again, or fewer ments of the U.S. Department of Energy requirements.
asthma-related trips to the hospital. (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) The walls are made with 2-by-6 studs
Health is what attracted the buyer to program. The Denver area builder is framed at 24 inches on center (o.c.) and
this 1,793-square-foot, three-story town nearly tied for total number of DOE incorporating advanced framing details
home at WestRidge Rowhomes, in Wheat ZERHs built, having certified 1,019 since like two-stud corners, right-sized head-
Ridge, Colorado. “Having a healthy home the program began in 2012. Thrive has ers, and ladder blocking at interior walls

Average Monthly Energy Bill
$40 Climate IECC,6A, cold

Calculated
Dry (B) Moist (A)
Marine (C)
7
6
Annual Savings 4 6
$1,750 5 5

Calculated versus typical new homes 4

3
2 3
2 2
Saved in the first 30 Years
$81,300 1

Includes fuel escalation rates,
2019 EIA Energy Outlook

www.greenbuildermedia.com September/October 2021 GREEN BUILDER 31