Tierra Concrete Homes: Low-Energy Residential Building Design

Using a whole building design concept, Tierra Concrete Homes, a home builder in Pueblo, Colorado, created low-energy, passive solar home designs. Passive solar features incorporated into the designs include house orientation, high-mass walls for thermal storage, exterior insulation, appropriate glazing type combined with overhangs to prevent summer overheating, open interior spaces to maximizedaylighting potential, and high efficiency lighting. These ranch-style homes require no cooling and minimum heating equipment to maintain comfortable indoor conditions. They are economically competitive to build, consume little fossil fuel, and produce virtually no construction waste. This paper discusses how the design of one of these homes was optimized to further minimize energy consumptionwhile maintaining an attractive livable environment. It also describes monitoring activities that are currently underway to verify predicted energy consumption.