 During 2005 VSBN, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program and others, will bring the EarthCraft House™ (ECH) Program to Virginia. VSBN is working in partnership with the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association (BRHBA) and the Home Builders Association of Virginia (HBAV) to introduce this voluntary Green Building Program to the state. ECH builders will produce homes that are more energy and resource efficient, provide greater cost savings for homebuyers, and provide added comfort and health benefits.
In 2004 the BRHBA worked with VSBN in evaluating Green Building Programs from around the country, and they developed a pilot program to test the EarthCraft House™ program through construction of demonstration homes in the Charlottesville area. The completed homes will be featured in an EarthCraft House™ Mini-Parade of Homes in July 2005. For the list of demonstration home builders, click here.
After the pilot phase, VSBN will work in conjunction with the HBAV to provide the program to local home builders' organizations around the state.
The Earthcraft House™ Program was originally developed as a joint effort in Atlanta between the Southface Energy Institute and the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association. It earned the 2004 Green Program of the Year award, given by the National Association of Home Builders, for its success in providing an effective and successful program. EarthCraft House™ has already engaged over 100 builders and certified over 1,500 homes in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program works with the residential building industry throughout the country to develop and implement innovative processes and technologies that save builders and homeowners millions of dollars in construction and energy costs.
VSBN brought the Building America Program to Virginia in 2001 and engaged several partners, including Building Science Consortium, Virginia Housing Development Authority, R.E. Collier Builders, and Health-E-Community Enterprises of VA, Inc. The program provided training seminars on high performance house design for Virginia builders, code officials, architects, and government representatives. In addition, VSBN worked with local homebuilders and The Energy Consortium, a Virginia-based building science company, to design and build eight demonstration homes around the state.
For more information:
Click here to subscribe to VaBldgAm, a discussion list
for participants in the Virginia Building America Program.
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