Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County strives for energy efficiency in all of our builds, from the insulation of the homes to solar panels on the roofs of the garages. As we continue our plan to build 15 homes in five years, we will continue to improve in sustainable practices.
Habitat Archuleta has made several changes in the last couple of years to its building practices that ensure energy efficiency in our homes for local workforce families.
To successfully triple our annual build capacity within the incredibly short build season in Archuleta County, we use factory-built homes delivered in halves via truck and crane that are stitched together by Habitat Archuleta’s staff and volunteers. In this way, materials are used efficiently and waste is minimized.
On that note, Habitat Archuleta partners with the Habitat Restore in Alamosa to further minimize waste in the county.
Mike Milliard, a Habitat Archuleta board member, said, “What we do is pick up items that are sellable or reusable in construction.”
Milliard stated this evolved into a partnership with Pagosa Springs Medical Center in which he and the Alamosa crew helped salvage 140 cabinets while the medical center remodeled a building.
“We’re trying to reuse all of those cabinets,” Mike said. “We do all the demo for them free of charge, and then it doesn’t go to the landfill.”
Milliard said that, last year, he and the Alamosa Restore crew shuttled 16-18 truckloads of items just from the medical center. At 1,500 pounds per truckload, this adds up to 25,500 pounds kept out of the local landfill and repurposed for other homes in the area.
These numbers don’t take into account the weekly pickups of furniture and other household items in Pagosa Springs. Milliard added these are larger items that can’t necessarily be donated to other local stores.
While the homes are factory-built, the garages for the homes are stick builds in which locally sourced lumber is used. Furthermore, the crew minimizes roof penetrations, which could lead to roof leaks and energy waste.
According to Gary Williams, a core volunteer and board member for Habitat Archuleta who specializes in sustainability, “We used beams cast off from BWD Construction last year to build a post-and-beam-type front porch on one of our houses.”
On the note of keeping the homes warm in the winter, Habitat Archuleta uses high-efficiency heat pumps. These pumps utilize inverter technology to heat and cool the houses.
Williams added that the construction crew uses extra insulation to ensure the homes stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
He said that the folks at Mountain Men Insulation go so far as to cover the crawl space with a waterproof membrane and install sump pumps when necessary.
Paul Kriescher, the executive producer and host of “Heart of a Building” documentary on PBS as well as the building envelope and business development specialist for Bowman Engineering, offers his expertise in sustainability to Habitat Archuleta by conducting “blower door tests.”
“This measures and quantifies where air leaks are happening and how much air leakage is happening,” Kriescher said.
He also utilizes an infrared camera to see if there were any changes to the insulation in the homes during transport to their ultimate destinations.
“This measurement ensures the home is more comfortable and less susceptible to having insects or other pests find their way into the home,” Kriescher added.
The homes are, if possible, oriented to the south to ensure maximum solar energy usage with rooftop solar panels. When that is not possible, the construction crew expands the roofs of the garages, ensuring that Jonathan Dobson at Dobson Solar and the crew can install solar panels for 20 400-watt panels.
Dobson has been installing rooftop solar panels for Habitat Archuleta for two years.
“Electric bills can be punishing,” Dobson said. “We’re offsetting those with a photovoltaic system.”
Dobson added that working with folks in Archuleta County is “incredibly rewarding. Almost everyone is over the moon about the investment they make.”
He said that working with Habitat Archuleta is no exception.
“In my experience, people who are into it and proud of it are such a joy to work with,” Dobson noted.
He added that the solar panels are “grid-interactive,” which means the power from these Habitat panels goes into the energy grid during the day. At night, the homes rarely rely on this grid. This guarantees both sustainability and affordability, as these completely electric homes should have very low power bills.
In the future, Habitat Archuleta hopes to adapt a simple passive solar home design to fit one of our sites, Williams said, and will continue to use high-end, energy-efficient appliances and rooftop solar panels.
To learn more about Habitat Archuleta’s pursuit of energy-efficient homes, or to get involved with our incredible construction staff, volunteers, subcontractors and donors, contact us at (970) 264-6960 or email office@habitatarchuleta.org.
