On the Denver Tour of Solar Homes, ‘million ways to go sustainable’
“There’s no cookie-cutter way to build a sustainable home; there are a million ways to do it,” Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s Phil Von Hake said during a preview of one house you’ll see on the Denver Tour of Solar Homes Saturday, Oct. 3. …Fifteen homes in all, each taking a different route, with chances to talk to homeowners who have been there and done that.
Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s Phil Von Hake joins solar homeowner Heather Isely and her sons Charlie, 6 and Masala, 13, beside their solar home in Hilltop.
Colorado has always led the way in ‘going solar’ (there are tours all over the state Saturday—Fort Collins, Estes Park, Durango, Glenwood, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, to name a few); but all of this is still new enough that people who take on these projects are pioneers…trying new materials, working with contractors that may never have built solar before..
That was the experience of Heather Isely and Keith Rice, who launched their home in Hilltop in 2006…and have a real eye-catcher to show for it: a blend of passive and active-solar, plus features that will wow your kids, including a hidden passage, a climbing wall in one bedroom, and a deck that, after its complete, will cross over to a tree house
Isely says she’s had this vision since she was a kid, growing up in a solar home that her parents, Vitamin Cottage founders Philip and Margaret Isely, built on Green Mountain. “It’s been incredible,” she said, adding that the solar works as well as all of the kid-friendly features, delivering gas-electric bills for 3,500 square feet that run only $150/month during mid-winter…about $190 during mid-summer when the upstairs air conditioner runs.
The design, by Melissa Kyer of SunQuest Architecture, uses some cutting edge materials: Durisol insulated concrete basement walls (adds mass); and SIPS (structural insulated panels) that can reach R-values in the 40s for outside walls. Denver Building Department hadn’t ever seen a house that used stucco on top of SIPS; so Isely’s and Rice’s builder, Old Greenwich Homes, had to run interference to get the technique approved.
…But very much worth it, says Isely. “I’m a person who’s always cold, and I don’t get cold in this house.” To add a little extra allure to this tour stop (one of five in central Denver) she’ll have some treats from Vitamin Cottage out today.
The way to find tour houses is from one of two jumping-off points. For west-siders, come by the Visitors Center at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, right off I-70 at Denver West Boulevard, then north, and left on Denver West Parkway. For Central/South Denver locations, stop by First Universalist Church, northeast corner of E. Hampden and S. Colorado (they have a free Green Jobs/Career Resource Fair on, too). CRES asks a $20 donation for your carload of kids and relations, in exchange for a map. Both tour sites open at nine Saturday morning, Oct. 3; see as many houses as you can before 4 p.m.
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WHERE: Denver Tour of Solar Homes by Colorado Renewable Energy Society; 15 homes new & remodeled, two check-in sites: East: First Universalist Church, 4101 E. Hampden Ave., take Hampden east from I-25 1 mi. to Colorado, N.E. corner. West: NREL Visitor Center, 15013 Denver West Pkwy; exit I-70 at Denver West Blvd, north to Denver West Pkwy, left
TOUR DONATION: $20 per carload
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
ON THE WEB: www.cres-energy.org
Tags: Colorado Renewable Energy Society, CRES, Denver photovoltaic, Denver sustainable homes, Denver Tour of Solar Homes, Durisol concrete solar, Hilltop solar home, National Renewable Energy Laboratory homes, NREL homes, SIPS panels solar
