Robert Jenson, The Jenson Group
Tyler Construction & Development's green spec home in the La…
To achieve EFL Diamond certification, Tyler Construction’s green spec house incorporates:
- An airtight and highly insulated building envelope and sealed ductwork;
- Low-E windows;
- A 15-zone HVAC system that allows individual room control and is tied to the house’s automation system;
- A fresh-air ventilation system;
- Balanced air pressure to help maintain even temperatures;
- At least 65 percent compact fluorescent lights;
- Water-conserving shower heads, faucets, toilets, dishwashers, and clothes washers.
But the house wouldn’t fit the Las Vegas profile—and its $3,195,000 price tag—without a bit of excess, so Curtis designed expansive living spaces that extend through telescoping patio doors onto a shaded patio, infinity-edge pool, hot tub, and waterfall. Interior finishes include coffered and tray ceilings in several rooms, extensive use of marble tile on floors, walls, and in bathrooms, as well as hardwood flooring, multiple fireplaces, and European-style cabinetry in the kitchen and bathrooms. The master bedroom retreat includes a luxurious bathroom featuring a soaking tub and two-person shower with multiple showerheads and water jets, as well as a spacious closet complete with laundry facilities and a safe room.
Rounding out the features are the whole-house Crestron home automation system, two climate-controlled wine cellars, a movie theater, a gym, an elevator, underground parking for nine vehicles, and a central vacuum system.
At completion, the house achieved a rating of 63 on the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index, 22 points better than the Energy Star minimum requirement. “Building this way makes so much sense,” Curtis muses. “I wonder how much energy I’ve blown in my own older home compared to this one.”
Building within the EFL program allows builders to guarantee an estimated annual energy usage for a particular home and the comfort of the home’s interior conditioned spaces. The cost of heating and cooling Tyler Construction’s green spec house is guaranteed to run less than $366 per month for three years—about the cost of cooling an average 2,000-square-foot Las Vegas home during the summer, according to Curtis.
Though not a requirement of the EFL program, Curtis says he considered adding photovoltaic panels to generate electricity for the home, but he soon discovered that the community bylaws wouldn’t allow it.
There are those who would argue that a 9,000-plus-square-foot house is inherently unfriendly to the environment, no matter how efficiently it performs. But Curtis notes the three-story, five-bedroom, seven-bathroom house isn’t much larger than many of the other high-end homes in Las Vegas, and it’s the only green-certified project in its community. For Curtis, the proof of the house’s sustainability is in its performance, and he’s hopeful that potential buyers will agree.
According to some reports, home prices in Las Vegas have stabilized over the past year, and new-home sales are predicted to increase in 2010. Curtis says he believes the high-end market in Las Vegas is starting to turn around.
Learn more:Curtis and his third-party verifier and consultant for the project, Robert Sprague of Sustainable Energy Services, recorded a video (available on YouTube) in which they discuss the work that went into the project.
*EFL’s Diamond level certification has been discontinued; the program now awards only Gold, Platinum, or Certified Green levels, but occasionally will award a Diamond certification to projects that surpass Platinum requirements for builders who choose not to pursue the Certified Green award.
