Green Builder Media and Thrive Home Builders (Thrive) are proud to announce the grand opening of VISION House Sonders, two green demonstration homes within the new Sonders Fort Collins neighborhood.
Thrive, which is building 220 of the 400 homes in the neighborhood, hosted hundreds of visitors who came to see the company’s carbon-neutral homes, featuring the latest green products, systems, and technologies available on the market today.
The single family homes,and townhomes are net zero ready, electric, solar-powered, healthy and connected. In addition, they are DOE Zero Energy Ready, Energy Star Certified, EPA Indoor Air Plus qualified, and LEED v4 certified.
“From its community-wide elements to the design of its homes and the products specified within them, the VISION House Sonders projects show that you don’t have to choose between comfort and conservation,” says Sara Gutterman, CEO of Green Builder Media. “One of the most important aspects of this project is the commitment to carbon neutral building.”
One of the VISION House Sonders homes–Thrive’s Retreat Model–was designed and built using Thrive’s Carbon-Wise® building approach to assess the home’s embodied and operational carbon. In that program, the company looks at more than 19,000 components. After taking these components into account, it determines the full carbon emissions that have to be offset.
Thrive determined that 103,000 kg of carbon needed to be offset for the Retreat Model. To offset it, the company invested in four distinct decarbonization projects, including a project in Fort Lupton called Charm Industrial, where the best of nature and tech is combined to capture carbon from entering the atmosphere. Purchasing the offset for the Retreat model is the equivalent to:
- 559 cars taken off the road for a year.
- 1,699 new trees planted.
- The annual energy usage of 13 homes.
- 368 flights from LA to New York.
(Want more information on this? Check out the Matterport link to the Retreat Model here.)
Thrive estimates the 220 homes it is building in the neighborhood will reduce carbon emissions by 1,023 tons when compared with a similar community built to the 2021 IECC (or the distance driven by an average gas-powered vehicle by 2.5 million miles.)
“We are thrilled to be among the leading home builders, if not the first in the nation, to build a carbon neutral production home,” says Stephen Myers, CEO at Thrive. “Each home has the option to be carbon neutral at Sonders, and we’ve integrated the latest in building science that we’ve learned over a 30-year span to deliver these high-performance homes that are good for the homebuyers and planet.”
There is so much more to the VISION House Sonders, including:
- Demand-side energy management solutions and smart home technologies.
- Intelligent solar + battery storage.
- Products that facilitate net energy, water, and carbon.
- Smart, efficient appliances.
- High-performance envelope, windows, and HVAC.
- Solar power plus the ability to purchase 100% renewable energy.
- Non-toxic flooring, countertops, cabinets, and other materials.
- Whole-home filtration, humidity control, and ventilation.
Visit the VISION House Sonders Fort Collins website for more information, including photos, floorplans, and detailed specifications.
For interviews or more information about the project, contact Cati O’Keefe at cati.okeefe@greenbuildermedia.com 513.532.0185.
The VISION House Sonders was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Aprilaire, DuPont, LP SmartSide, Mitsubishi Electric Trane, Owens Corning, Panasonic, Phyn, Schneider Electric, Sunnova, Uponor, Whirlpool.
About Green Builder Media
Green Builder Media is North America’s leading media company focused on green building and sustainable living content. With a comprehensive suite of content marketing, digital, social, and print media options, high-profile demonstration projects, market intelligence, data services, and live events, Green Builder Media offers a blend of visionary and practical information covering a broad spectrum of topics, including decarbonization, electrification, smart home technologies, energy efficiency, intelligent water, indoor air quality, resilient housing, renewables, and clean transportation.
About Thrive Home Builders
Thrive Home Builders is a Denver-based company that has been building energy-efficient and healthy homes in Colorado for the last 30 years. Its building practices have made Thrive a leader in the industry for high performance homes that have provided homeownership for entry-level, income-qualified homeowners to luxury homebuyers. Thrive homes use innovative building practices that incorporate the highest standards of energy efficiency and sustainability with the homeowner’s health in mind, including using its Thrive Carbon-Wise® building approach and offering its all-electric homes through Thrive E-PWR®. Thrive’s Zero Energy Ready Homes are LEED Certified, Energy Star Certified, and EPA Indoor airPLUS Certified.
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