U.S. Department of Energy presents Grand Award for Housing Innovation to Denver-based company
(DENVER – Oct. 09, 2014) For the second consecutive year, the U.S. Department of Energy has named Thrive Home Builders the winner of its highest Housing Innovation Award, recognizing the sustainable production builder as the standard bearer for zero energy ready homes.
Thrive Home Builders received the Zero Energy Ready Home Grand Award on Sept. 23 at the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance’s annual Excellence in Building Conference & Expo, hosted in St. Louis. The builder was chosen as the Grand Award recipient from seven finalists and innovation award winners in the Production Builder Awards category. Zero energy ready homes represent a whole new level of home performance, with rigorous requirements that ensure outstanding levels of energy savings, comfort, health and durability.
“The best building scientists in the world judge these awards,” Thrive Home Builders CEO Gene Myers said. “For Thrive Home Builderts to receive the Grand Award for two consecutive years affirms our team’s hard work and commitment and places Thrive Home Builders among the best in both environmental science and design. This is an award for customers, too: It assures them that they are buying the best home in the market.”
DOE Zero Energy Ready Home awards are presented to a select group of top builders in the country that are changing the way homes are designed and constructed. The honor signifies that the builder’s innovation and leadership are among the best in the industry, that it meets extraordinary levels of excellence and quality, and that its vision paves the way for housing best practices.
Judging examines a number of factors, including indoor air quality, water conservation and durability. Thrive Home Builder’s high score in all of these areas, Myers said, indicates that its homes are better for individuals with health issues, are good for the environment and will hold their value. With the builder’s practices being so far ahead, Myers added, homeowners have assurances that their investment will remain in front of often-changing building codes.
Bill Rectanus, Thrive Home Builders vice president of homebuilding operations, noted that, through design innovation, the company creates energy efficiency while still maintaining affordability, using proven construction techniques and traditional housing design. Its homes remain competitive in price and within average pricing ranges for Denver homes, he said.
“Zero Energy Ready Homes are the future for U.S. housing, and we need builders like Thrive Home Builders to get us there, ” said Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office. “That a group of independent national housing experts selected Thrive Home Builders as a Grand Winner of the Housing Innovation Awards among other accomplished Zero Energy Ready Home builders for two years in a row is a remarkable achievement and testimony to the company’s outstanding commitment to proven innovations. We know that Zero Energy homes provide a vastly superior consumer experience at lower ownership cost – and an experience that all Americans should want in their next new home.”
Thrive Home Builders is an award-winning, Colorado-based homebuilder and a leader in the design and construction of energy-efficient homes since 1993. With a commitment to living that is sustainable, beautiful and affordable, Thrive Home Builders was Colorado’s first production builder to equip homes with solar panels as a standard feature and the first production builder to offer a Zero Energy option on all single family homes in Denver. Today the company offers award-winning, DOE Certified Zero Energy and Zero Energy homes designed in the a neo-classical style throughout Denver and its suburbs. For more information, visit www.thrivehomebuilders.com/.
