On the morning of Friday, November 13, a small crowd gathered in the Town of Ignacio, CO (pop. 735) to celebrate the groundbreaking of La Plata County’s first net-zero energy affordable home. A winter storm watch painted a flat white sky as a backdrop to the ceremony, serving as a reminder of the imminent onset of the winter season and a likely delay to the actual start of construction.
Colorado Housing Inc. (CHI) and the Regional Housing Alliance (RHA) have partnered to design and construct a net-zero energy single-family home, pictured above, which will sell to a family at or below 80% of the area median income.
The design of the net-zero home was developed through a Green Communities-funded charrette, held in July, in which a small but diverse team of community representatives and local building professionals fully vetted the building design, envelope assembly and mechanical systems. Rose Fellow Ophelia Wilkins has been serving as project manager, orchestrating the development process from land acquisition, to design and, eventually, construction administration.
After months of planning, the team is ready to begin construction. . . weather permitting, that is. The project schedule has been delayed due to the deferral of numerous funding announcements. The deferrals have brought the project to the brink of the winter season. The real cost of building during the winter is the risk of a extending the construction timeline, and consequently extending the interest on the construction loan. This is a risk the project will likely choose to avoid.
In a ceremonial speech, the charismatic 75-year-old Mayor of Ignacio, George Whitt described the home as “a house of the future.” He went on to say “We’ve got a lot of houses to build in this area. We hope this [example] will rub off on other people who will come by, take a look at it, and use it as a model.”
