Addison Homes Receives U. S. Department of Energy 2024 Housing Innovation Grand Award
Addison Homes, a South Carolina homebuilder specializing in building healthy, high-performance homes that emphasize resilience to natural disasters, increased comfort and durability, better indoor air quality, and ultra energy efficiency, has received a Housing Innovation Grand Award from the U. S. Department of Energy. The award was presented at the 2024 Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) High Performance Home Building Summit held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Grand awards are the highest award available in the DOE Housing Innovation program and are given in five different categories for buildings that have already reached award-winning status in the program. Addison Homes received the Grand award for its house the Westbrooke, built in Powdersville, SC, for the category of “Change Maker,” an award “for the builder who demonstrates a successful strategy to transform the market (locally, regionally, or nationally) through innovative market interactions.”
The DOE Housing Innovation Awards program was founded in 2013 and recognizes “the nation’s leading builders participating in the Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program, the federal government’s most rigorous new home certification program.” Zero Energy Ready Homes achieve exceptional levels of energy efficiency and meet the rigorous requirements of the U.S. Department of Energy. Addison Homes was one of five builders in the United State to receive a 2024 Housing Innovation Grand Award. Since first participating in the national award program in 2015, Addison Homes has received eight DOE Housing Innovation awards.
High performance highlights of the Westbrooke home include:
- An ultra airtight building enclosure providing exceptional indoor air quality, comfort, and energy efficiency
- A dedicated indoor air quality system to actively control humidity levels, provide hospital grade air filtration, and fresh air ventilation to the home
- A completely insulated and conditioned basement with engineered precast basement walls that use less concrete, provide high R value, and a lifetime structural and waterproof warranty for the homeowner
- Exterior insulation wrapping the home for extreme efficiency, durability, and comfort
- Thicker exterior walls with R-25 insulation providing excellent sound reduction, comfort, and energy efficiency
- Super efficient variable speed heat pump for heating and cooling with an innovative compact duct system all contained within the conditioned space of the home
- An all-electric home including 100% LED lighting and heat pump water heater technology with demand controlled hot water distribution for “instant” hot water at the fixture with maximum water savings
- Low flow water fixtures throughout the home for reduced water consumption.
“I am very grateful for this recognition,” said Todd Usher, founder and President of Addison Homes. “We have always strived to achieve the ultimate recognition of a DOE Housing Innovation Grand award, but the competition is challenging. The five homebuilders who received a Grand award this year are headquartered in the states of Washington, Colorado, New York, North Carolina, and Addison Homes here in South Carolina. We are in good company, and as recent severe weather has demonstrated, high performance home building can be of benefit to homeowners anywhere in the country.”
Photos, floor plan, key features and specs, and a video with the homeowner for the Westbrooke may be seen at the DOE Tour of Zero page at: https://www7.eere.energy.gov/buildings/residential/explorezerh/tour-of-zero/westbrooke-infill.
Addison Homes builds healthy, high-performance homes which feature resilience to natural disasters, increased comfort and durability, remarkable indoor air quality, greater energy efficiency, 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/.
