The Balsam Project

Home was built, originally, as a spec home in Boulder.   The goal of the spec project was to build a high-end luxury home that far exceeded the minimum green-points and required HERS points, all to a traditional budget for a home of that quality and square footage in Boulder.    The result is a beautiful home that is architecturally striking, with high amenities through-out, while achieving twice the required HERS points.   It is SIPS construction (walls and roofs), Geo-thermal, PV Solar, passive heating and cooling, 85% efficient lighting, sustainable materials, low-VOC paints, 100% xeriscaped and native planting landscaping, and boasts one of the best (if not the best) air-infiltration scores (score = 0.04) in the city of Boulder.
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Specialty Features

Construction & Insulation

• SIP Walls - Extreme Panels 6.5 inch walls. Insulation Value = R-24
• SIP Roofs - Extreme Panels 12 1/4 inch roofs. Insulation Value = R-48
• Foundation - 8" Poured Concrete; 2in Blue-Board Insulation on exterior.  Insulation Value = R-10
• 27 Caissons under foundation, each 22ft deep
• Basement Insulation- Icynene (foam insulation and air-barrier) blown 4-6in thick on interior living spaces
• Initial Blower Door Test, performed before drywall, yielded a Air Infiltration score of 0.069

Heating & Cooling

• Geo-thermal ground source heat pump system for heating & cooling
• Very high efficiency WaterFurnace Envision 064 geothermal Heat Pump
• 2 stage operation; circulating Fan operates at ~65watts.
• 3 zones (one per floor) for heating & cooling.
• 2 ground-loops, 280ft 4 ¾ in diam.
• Photovoltaic (PV) System – Self Ballast roof mounted 4.9kw PV Solar.
• Estimated output is 6875 KWh per year
• Passive Solar design
• 12 sq. ft of South Facing windows.
• Properly positioned awnings to control over-heating in the summer.
• Solar Chimney design
• Open stairwell to allow for cool underground (basement) air to naturally rise through the house
•  House is designed to be 100% operated by electricity (heating, cooling, kitchen appliances, hot-water) – to be supplied by either the roof-mounted solar-PV system, or purchased through Xcel Energy wind-credits.  Making it a carbon neutral home.
  

Windows, Doors & Lighting

• Marvin Integrity Windows- Picture, Casement, Awnings for lower infiltration; Low E II Insulated Glass (15-33% recycle glass), E-star rated. Wood-Ultrex (8x stronger than vinyl), 10% recycled product, 39% less energy to produce. Average whole glass R-Value = R-3
• Therma-Tru Smoothstar Extirior Doors
• Hurd Aluminum Clad 4-panel sliding door.
• Clerestory Windows and South Facing windows to provide lots of natural lighting throughout entire house
• Lighting Fixtures – Majority of lighting fixtures are Fluorescent, Compact Fluorescent, or LED for reduced electrical consumption.   Where halogen bulbs are used, dimmer switches were added to control wattage output.  

Indoor Air Quality

•    Passively & Mechanically ventilated
•    Heat Recovery Ventilator
•   Lo-VOC paints used throughout

Recycled & Renewable Products

•  Countertops – ECO by Cosentino; made of 75% recycled content composed of post-industrial or post-consumer materials and is bound by an environmentally friendly resin.
•  Bamboo flooring – 1st floor, and upstairs hallway made of carbonized bamboo
•  Carpet – all carpets are 50% wool
•  Tile – all tiling is ceramic; no natural stone
• Roof / Deck tiles are made of recycled rubber from Denver
• FSC certified lumber
•  During demolition diverted 13.5 tons of material from the landfill through recycling or re-use.

Xeriscape landscaping

Contractor Information

The following Contractors have worked on this project and will attend this event to speak about their involvement with the project.

Homeowner:    Adam Stevenson Builder: Dahm Construction

Mechanical: Blue Valley Energy Renewable Energy: Bella Energy

Panel of Experts

Paul Norton: Senior Project Leader with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Paul holds a  B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering. Paul has specialized in building energy efficiency, zero energy homes, high performance commercial buildings and alternative fuel vehicles.

Doug Parker, Boulder County Sustainability Examiner
Doug is currently working as the Sustainability Examiner in the Boulder County Building Department.  Prior to this, he had a career spanning 30 years building and remodeling homes in Boulder County, specializing in passive solar, super-insulated, net- zero, carbon-neutral homes.  He has had a long-term interest in cost effective energy efficient construction.

Larry Kinney, cofounder, president and CEO of the Synertech. 
Larry did undergraduate work in Physics and Philosophy at Davidson and Rhodes colleges and holds a PhD in Philosophy from Syracuse University, where his research included Bertrand Russell’s work in developing the foundations of mathematics and logic.  He has conceived and directed dozens of energy-related energy research, development, and demonstration projects.   Active in energy conservation research for over 30 years, he has broad experience in weatherization program operations, fenestration systems, energy-efficient refrigeration, lighting and daylighting technologies, air handling and conditioning systems, and controls.  He also has experience in energy efficiency program evaluation, from instrumentation design and analysis to policy research.  Larry has authored over 200 publications and reports to clients and is the co-holder of two patents in the daylighting area.