Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Natural Homes and Trend Magazine Debut Zero Energy Solar Home in Santa Fe

On Saturday March 17th, Alan Hoffman of Natural Homes and Cynthia Canyon of Trend Magazine hosted the premier of a new line of Zero Energy Solar Homes being built by Renaissance Builders. The goal of attaining cost effective homes with little or no annual utility bills has been the stuff of wishful thinking, but it is finally here.

The sustainable home premiered includes custom features like hand plastered walls, beamed ceilings, solid stone counter tops and expansive covered patios and was built for less then some conventional custom homes being built today in Santa Fe. What Renaissance includes at no additional cost is the state of the art in super insulated walls and ceilings, efficient boilers, lighting and appliances, whole house heat recovery ventilation and 3.4 Kilowatts of solar panels on the roof. This is enough energy savings and solar electric generation to attain close to a net zero utility bill and at least a couple residents of similar homes make a net annual profit, through careful use of their energy. They actually get a check from the utility company. And to top it off, every buyer of a Zero Energy Home gets State and Federal tax credits, as much as $20,000.

One host of the premier event was Alan Hoffman of Natural Homes, a Green Real Estate marketing group within Logic Real Estate of Santa Fe. Alan has been designing and marketing Solar Homes since 1977 and is championing the state of the art certified, energy efficient homes. "Solar homes took a big step forward with the support of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, expanding the national LEED program with crucial research and tax credits". (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Co-host, Cynthia Canyon is the founder of Trend Magazine and is celebrating the upcoming premier of Eco Trend source magazine in April. "Sustainable living is the fastest growing mega-trend I have ever seen, Eco Trend Source Magazine will cover all aspects of Green building, Earth friendly design and diverse lifestyles".

The home premiered is known as the Summa House and was rebuilt when the original home burnt down. Alan Hoffman sold the original house to the Summa family 22 years ago when it was the state of the art at the time when energy was cheap. Mr. Hoffman said "We will be analyzing the efficiency of this home now that it's 3.45 Kilowatt solar array has been connected to the electric grid". The construction of the home, was followed by the Santa Fe Real Estate Guide magazine, in a series of articles.

The opening reception brought out green business leaders, interested home buyers and members of the environmental community.State Representative Brian Egolf, one of the most productive members of the New Mexico State Legislature was seen there. He played a roll in the creation of Green legislation and continues to bring forward significant legislation to expand energy self-reliance and environmental improvement.

SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/03/31/prweb9349744.DTL

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