Addison Homes receives U. S. Department of Energy 2023 Housing Innovation Award

Addison Homes, a South Carolina home builder which specializes in building healthy, high-performance homes that emphasize increased comfort and durability, better indoor air quality, and ultra energy efficiency has received a Housing Innovation award from the U. S. Department of Energy at the 2023 Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) High Performance Home Building Summit held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The DOE Housing Innovation Awards program was founded in 2013 to recognize builders who are constructing Zero Energy Ready Homes and are “leveraging innovative technologies and systems along with a keen understanding of modern building science principles.” Zero Energy Ready Homes achieve exceptional levels of energy efficiency and meet rigorous requirements from the DOE program. The Housing Innovation award recipients are selected by a panel of judges who are experts in the high-performance building industry.

Since first participating in the national award program in 2015, Addison Homes has received seven housing innovation awards and of more than 25 award winners in 2023 Addison Homes was the only builder from South Carolina. This year’s DOE housing innovation award for Addison Homes was for its Keowee home plan, which features exceptional indoor air quality, water and energy efficiency, and uses a solar photovoltaic shingle system to generate renewable energy to offset a significant portion of the electrical use of the home, achieving an astounding HERS score of 28 for efficiency. High performance highlights of the home included:

• A completely encapsulated and conditioned crawl space providing conditioned space for the HVAC system and ductwork
• An Internet-connected smart thermostat that incorporated monitoring of interior and exterior conditions including indoor air quality
• High performance windows utilizing triple pane glass including two layers of low-e coating
• Passive solar design embraced with glazing used on the southern exposure of the building
• Skylights and sun tunnels integrated into the building envelope to maximize natural daylighting and minimize the need for artificial lighting during daytime hours
• Extensive envelope air sealing, which reduced air infiltration while minimizing intrusion of pests, dust and exterior allergens
• And continuous exterior insulation, minimizing thermal bridging through the exterior walls of the home and its foundation

“I feel very privileged that Addison Homes was recognized,” said Todd Usher, founder and President of Addison Homes. “I was able to attend the award ceremony and it was clear that the competition was stiff. I think one of the great challenges for building homes to stringent high performance standards in this region is that we are in a mixed-humid climate zone. It’s not by accident that most of the builders recognized are building in the northern half of the country — places where it can get quite cold, but where the humidity and heat are not as much of a challenge. All of us at Addison take our work of creating high-performance, sustainable homes in a challenging climate zone very seriously and we are grateful for the award.”

Photos, floor plan, key features and specs, and a video with the homeowner for the Keowee may be seen at the DOE Tour of Zero page at https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/doe-tour-zero-keowee-addison-homes.

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/.