- The home's design will save resident around $2,100 annuals in gas and electric bills.
- The PureBlue home's energy-savings features add at least $105,000 to the cost of the home.
- Brookfield has a community of townhomes in Glen Burnie that come standard with solar panels.
Near Bristow, Va., publicly traded homebuilder Brookfield Residential has created what is being dubbed as one the most energy-efficient model homes in the D.C. metro area.
Referred to as “PureBlue,” the 4,100-square-foot home is a souped-up version of the builder’s Edison model.
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The energy conservation features incorporated into the home’s design will save residents around $2,100 in gas and electric bills annually compared to standard-performance neighborhood home of similar size, according to Elliot Seibert, senior building systems engineer for Steven Winter Associates (SWA), a research and consulting firm.
SWA, along with Mark Leahy of Pinnacle Design, aided Brookfield in creating a balance between the home’s efficiency measures and solar panels so net-zero energy goals could be obtained.
Sustainable home features
The PureBlue model cuts its heating and cooling loads via the integration of SIP wall panels, triple-pane windows and an energy recovery ventilator, according to a SWA blog posting.
The home’s roof features a mounted, nearly 10-kilowatt photovoltaic system that will generate more than enough onsite electricity to cover operational needs. Excess electricity will be sold back to the local utility company.
The home also features a 500-gallon cistern below the outdoor deck. The cistern collects, filters and stores greywater from sinks and showers. The filtered water is then piped out for shrub drip irrigation.
A detached two-car garage is another effort in conserving energy. Garages are big culprits of energy waste.
PureBlue is priced just below $700,000.
Homes in the Avendale community start at nearly $390,000, according to the builder’s website. According to The Washington Post, the energy-saving features are said to account for roughly $105,000 of the higher price, with water-savings attributes tacking on an additional $17,000 to the sales price.
Brookfield is currently selling homes in 11 DC metro communities, with the highest concentration in suburban Loudoun County. The builder also has three available communities in Maryland. Nine of the 14 communities are offering single-family products, while five feature townhomes.
