New American Home Pushes the Envelope on Sustainability and Style

Thousands of IBS attendees will tour the home, which serves as a showpiece for the latest design and construction ideas.

5 MIN READ

The main attraction of the 7,400-square-foot showstopper is easily overlooked because its elements are located behind the home’s walls in the insulation, mechanicals, ducts, and pipes. Here, hidden systems and technologies do the heavy lifting of cooling, powering, heating, watering, and ventilating. The high-performance guts of the house work together to meet the highest levels of the National Green Building Standard and LEED for Homes green building programs and bring it in at a low 22 HERS rating. Project planners are dubbing it the greenest New American Home in the program’s 31-year history.

The harsh desert climate was the foremost consideration for energy rater Drew Smith of Two Trails Green Building Consulting. To keep the blazing Nevada sun under control, the house relies on judiciously placed overhangs, high-efficiency windows, and the unrivaled power of open- and closed-cell spray foam insulation. Three Carrier air conditioning units and one mini-split system enhance indoor comfort and keep the air healthy with built-in heat recovery ventilators, UV lights, high-efficiency filters, and dehumidifiers.

In addition, furniture and finishes were carefully chosen to minimize off-gassing, including no-added-urea-formaldehyde cabinets, zero-VOC Sherwin-Williams paints, and Green Label Plus carpeting.
The house’s hot water needs are more than covered by four Rinnai tankless gas water heaters installed near the garage in a daisy-chained configuration. As soon as one hits its max, the next one fires up, guaranteeing plentiful hot water even if all seven showers are being used at once, Smith says.

The house sips as little water as possible, thanks to low-flow fixtures including dual-flush toilets, 1.75 gpm showerheads, and 0.5 gpm to 1.5 gpm faucets. Even the landscaping doesn’t use a drop more than necessary because its native plants will require no water once they’re established. A weather-sensitive irrigation system will kick in during extreme drought, but it will shut off if rain is forecast within 24 hours. In all, the home will be 55 percent to 65 percent more water efficient than a standard code-built house, according to Smith.

Project planners are hoping that the builders who tour the home during the Builders’ Show—and potential buyers—will appreciate the home’s high-performance systems as much as its soaring views, custom finishes, and spacious rooms.

“That’s what we want to make sure everyone’s aware of—that green is more than just energy efficiency,” Smith explains. “It’s healthy indoor air quality, it’s water conservation, it’s reduced maintenance. All of those are key factors in what we’re looking to show here.”

Click here for a virtual tour of the 2014 New American Home.

Learn more about markets featured in this article: Las Vegas, NV.

About the Author

Jennifer Goodman

Jennifer Goodman is a former editor for BUILDER. She lives in the walkable urban neighborhood of Silver Spring, Md.

Upcoming Events

  • Zonda’s Q4 Housing Market Forecast

    Webinar

    Register Now
  • Zonda’s Building Products Forecast Webinar

    Webinar

    Register Now
  • Future Place

    Irving, TX

    Register Now
All Events