By Mark Samuelson
Has solar energy reached the point that solar homes are actually selling? The answer’s yes–and builder John Keith can show you why, in a soon-to-be-finished home near Stapleton’s Central Park, that uses practically no energy at all.

John Keith of Harvard Communities in front of his model in Stapleton, close to his newest home expected to use practically no energy at all.

Nobody would imagine 2008 to be better for builders than last year, but Harvard Community’s Architect Collection increased its sales over 2007 as Keith added even more attention to his environmental package. That push reaches a climax this month as Harvard nears completion of its latest Near-Zero-Energy Home, with a solar component so great that its carbon footprint will be around 50,000 pounds less-per-year than an average new home. more »

WHERE: Grand opening, Arbors at Lowry by Harvard Communities, ranch-style patio home, solar system free with purchase thru July. From Quebec St. south of First, take Lowry Blvd. east 1 mi. past ball fields and ice rink, to traffic circle, south on Yosemite.

PRICE: From high $400s
WHEN: 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
PHONE: 303-366-2555 WEB: www.arborslowry.com

Builder John Keith was first to bring patio homes to Lowry…first to bring solar homes to Stapleton…and now he’s all by himself once again with a new ranch-style, low-maintenance patio design, and you can see it at a Lowry grand opening.


Project Manager Mario Mendoza and Sales Rep Judi Phillips inspect Harvard Communities’ new ranch patio model at Lowry, for today’s opening.

Harvard Communities’ Arbors at Lowry ranks as the only new patio homes being built in the city of Denver today…a design difficult for builders to do, at a time when, despite the slower market, more and more buyers in places like Hilltop and Crestmoor are looking for them.

Keith knows how well patio homes work at Lowry. He created four Harvard enclaves of patio plans in Lowry’s earlier areas and quickly sold out. Harvard’s trendy energy efficiency, meanwhile, grabbed the attention of the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden——and they’re spotlighting Harvard and some large-scale energy companies in a permanent exhibit for the Colorado Convention Center.
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WHERE: Solar home, 4-bedroom plus study in Native American motif, 265 Skylane, Erie Airpark, refreshments.
PRICE: $749,900
PHONE: 720-270-5068 WEB: http://www.tourfactory.com/368590

In 1993 when gasoline was a buck-a-gallon, architect Doug Beall was inking drawings for a 2,800-foot house plan that had been rattling around in his head since grad school at Berkeley…solar heated, partially earth-bermed, and visually matched to the prairie topography east of Boulder. What he didn’t have was a site, or more importantly in days when energy prices were still pretty low, was any financing.

Today that house, which found both a lot (Erie Air Park) and a construction loan in 1997, is on the market. Beall and wife Julie have raised two teenagers there, are now off to Steamboat Springs (he works for Intrawest, son Kevan is an alpine snowboarding champ) and have the place on the market, 2-acre site included, at $749,900.
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