Addison Homes President Todd Usher Presents on Ambient Energy in Buildings at Dept. of Energy/National Science Foundation Event

Todd Usher, founder and President of Addison Homes, an Upstate S.C. home builder that specializes in building healthy, high-performance homes, has offered a presentation at a Department of Energy event held in Washington, DC, funded by a National Science Foundation grant on the topic of Ambient Energy for Buildings. The event was attended by a diverse audience of researchers, scientists, realtors, and homebuilders and the presentations will serve as the source for a journal article “outlining needs in research, education and dissemination to increase the use of ambient energy.”

Presentation topics at the event included sun-inspired house design, application of thermochemical storage in buildings, harvesting thermal energy from building envelopes, and comfort resilience. Usher’s presentation focused on the keys to adoption for ambient energy, which included speaking consumers’ language, sharing knowledge, and making complex ideas simple, along with a discussion of the challenges within the homebuilding profession for increasing ambient energy-influenced homes.

“It was a pleasure to be able to bring some of what I’ve learned from 20 years of high performance home building to the event – advice ‘from the field’ – and also to hear from so many thinkers and visionaries from other industries and specialties,” said Usher. “All of us were focused on harnessing the abundant energy that surrounds us in nature for our buildings, but all of us have pursued this topic within very different contexts and workspaces.”

“Our efforts to create comfortable, high-performance, energy-efficient homes have forced us to take a second look at ancient, traditional methods of construction that created natural ways to heat and cool living spaces. In thinking through how to harness ambient energy through our buildings we are often reminded that ‘everything old becomes new again.'”

Addison Homes builds healthy, high-performance homes which feature increased comfort and durability, better indoor air quality, greater energy efficiency, resilience to natural disasters, and sustainable materials. Headquartered in Greenville, SC, Addison homes are constructed to meet stringent national standards that exceed current building codes and emphasize thoughtful design and sustainability features that deliver lower operating costs, reduced maintenance, and natural daylight in open, integrated spaces. Each home is built to US Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home standards. Learn more about Addison Homes at https://www.addison-homes.com. Connect with Todd Usher at https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddusher/.