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High-Performance Building Companies Honored

Monday, January 25, 2010

BASF joined the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in honoring five U.S. builders for exceptional achievements in high-performance building at the Second Annual BASF Builders Challenge Awards, presented during the 2010 International Builders Show in Las Vegas.

Led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Builders Challenge is working with homebuilders across America toward the ultimate goal of providing cost-effective, net-zero energy homes.
 
“BASF has long supported the advancement of high-performance building technologies, and we are pleased to honor those builders who are leading the industry towards a more sustainable future,” said Jack Armstrong, leader, construction markets -North America, for BASF.

The award recipients include:

• David Weekley Homes (Texas) for qualifying the most homes (280);

• Artistic Homes (New Mexico);

• Ecofutures Building Inc. (Colorado);

• Tim O'Brien Homes Inc. (Wisconsin); and

•  Yavapai College (Arizona).

To qualify for the Builders Challenge, homes must rate 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home ScaleSM (E-Scale), a DOE tool that allows homebuyers to evaluate the energy efficiency of a particular home. Homes that achieve this score use at least 30% less energy than a typical new home built to code. Winners must also satisfy the Builders Challenge Quality Criteria—safety, health, and quality standards—established by more than a decade of research by the Building America Program.

DOE has qualified more than 1,850 homes as part of the Builders Challenge. The estimated 1.3 million homes built by 2030 under the initiative will save an estimated $1.7 billion in energy costs, BASF said.

More information about the Builders Challenge program is available at www.buildingamerica.gov/challenge.