Wheat Ridge – U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman touted the Bush administration’s conservation programs Monday in front of a new home designed by federal researchers that will produce as much energy as it consumes.
“In order to have a growing economy, we need more energy,” Bodman said to a group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers gathered at a construction site near Interstate 70.
“We also have to use the energy we have more efficiently.”
The 1,260-square-foot house, designed by engineers at the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will use passive solar heating, solar hot-water panels, enhanced insulation and smart design to halve the energy consumption of a traditional home.
Active solar electric panels to be mounted on the roof offset the home’s electric consumption, making its net energy consumption zero, its designers say.
Paul Torcellini, a senior engineer at NREL, said the new house will be a small first step toward changing expectations about what a home could be.
“We need to shift people’s ideas about buildings from being consumers to being exporters of energy to the grid,” he said.
NREL engineers designed the house using existing products and techniques that will add about $4,000 to the house’s final cost of $96,000 when it is completed in late August.
New homeowner Amy Whalen, 36, said she’s eager to move out of her drafty duplex. The reduced utility bills will be a “huge improvement” for her and her two sons, she said.
The event was the first stop on Bodman’s “Energizing America for Energy Security” tour. Today, he is expected to urge support for comprehensive energy legislation sought by the Bush administration.
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up debate on an energy bill this week. The House of Representatives passed a different bill in May.
Staff writer Theo Stein can be reached at 303-820-1657 or tstein@denverpost.com.
