Page 30 - Green Builder Sept-Oct 2019 Issue

Power house. Thrive homes, constructed to the
Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home Annual Building Science Roundup 2020 A GRAND SYNERGY
(ZERH) program criteria, are highly energy-efficient,
solar-ready and well within insulation requirements of
the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code.
COURTESY OF THRIVE HOME BUILDERS

winning home achieved a calculated Home Energy Rating System
Nothing Left (HERS) score of 4, with projected annual energy costs of negative
$11 per year.
This home, like all 34 of the homes at Lowry, and like every home
to Chance Thrive builds, is constructed to the DOE ZERH program criteria,
providing a highly energy-efficient, solar-ready home.
The single-family detached homes at Lowry feature a modern style
with large mono-truss or simple gable roofs to accommodate solar
Every detail of this high-performance panels. The 40-foot lot widths in this urban Denver setting required
some creativity to incorporate master bedrooms on the main floor
project demonstrates carefully planned along with a kitchen, dining and living area. Thrive came up with

and executed planning and product Z-shaped lots where homes touch lot lines and connect around court-
yards. Tall ceilings add a feeling of spaciousness while finished base-
selection. ments increase square footage. This unit is 4,119 square feet, with
four bedrooms, 4.5 baths and two floors above grade.
BY GREEN BUILDER STAFF
ERO ENERGY CONSTRUCTION is front and center at the CLIMATE SPECIFIC DESIGN
Lowry site in Denver, where Thrive Home Builders has To achieve the high energy-efficiency requirements in this cold
constructed 34 single-family homes to the high energy- climate location, Thrive used WUFI hygrothermic modeling to
®
efficiency criteria of the U.S. Department of Energy come up with a wall design that provides a high wall insulation
Z (DOE)’s Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program. value of R-40 with a low risk of moisture accumulation. Thrive
All 34 homes are expected to perform as zero energy homes—a chose double-wall construction consisting of two 2-by-4, 24-inch
home that makes as much energy as it uses—offering owners $0 in on-center walls with staggered studs. The walls were spaced
energy costs over the course of a year. DOE selected one of the 34 2.5 inches apart to provide a 9.5-inch-deep wall cavity. Crews
homes as a winner in its 2017 Housing Innovation Awards. The installed 0.5-inch sheathing and used a sprayer-applied sealant to

28 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2019 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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