Using a whole building design concept, Tierra Concrete Homes, a home builder in Pueblo, Colorado, created low-energy, passive solar home designs. Passive solar features incorporated into the designs include house orientation, high-mass walls forthermal storage, exterior insulation, appropriate glazing type combined with overhangs to prevent summer overheating, open interior spaces to maximize daylighting potential and high efficiency lighting. These ranch-style homes require no cooling andminimum heating equipment to maintain comfortable indoor conditions. They are economically competitive to build, consume little fossil fuel, and produce virtually no construction waste.This paper discusses how the design of one of these homes was optimized to further minimize energy consumption while maintaining an attractive livable environment. It also describes monitoring activities that are currently underway to verify predictedenergy consumption.
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