Recurve Software Partners from Recurve Inc. on Vimeo.

Boulder is a hotbed of cleantech and renewables innovation. In housing and transportation, what are hopeful trends and signs of progress? What milestones have we already reached? What’s next?

Presenter Eric Doub will ask and invite tough questions about how to create building and transportation systems at an investment level that is cost-neutral on a monthly basis using PowerPoint with videos.

Eric Doub grew up in Boulder and founded award-winning Ecofutures in 1994. Since earning a degree at Stanford in the 1980s called “Sustainable U.S. Resource and Security Policies” he has become a nationally recognized expert in buildings that excel in comfort, health and energy efficiency.

In 2005 he designed and built North America’s first custom home in a cold climate to produce as much energy as it uses and where the energy systems are all on the building. With no wood burning and no natural gas, and built for 8% more, “Solar Harvest” has publicly proven that zero net energy is possible.

Collaborating with a dedicated management team leveraging over 50 years of green remodeling experience, in 2010 Eric went into revenue with the spin off EcoSmart Homes.

ESH provides a one-stop solution for performance upgrades in existing homes for (1) Increasing comfort, (2) Improving indoor environmental quality, and (3) Using energy in ways that save money.  As of mid 2010 the scope of ESH grew to include true Smart Grid solutions to make single homes and communities ready for microgrid-based, distributed generation – including electric vehicles. In 2011 Eric launched EcoSmart Certified Properties, where building energy coaching brings the one-stop solution to commercial energy upgrade projects.

For more information about the Boulder City Club, visit http://historichighland.com/city-club

Two years later, the Boulder-based company has evolved into a one-stop shop: Staffers perform whole-house energy audits, create reports with efficiency solutions, schedule upgrades and verify maintenance through customized monitoring packages.

The home performance evaluations are generated through Recurve, an innovative software the company developed in January 2010 that provides feedback about energy use and potential financial savings through sustainable upgrades.

The Camera recently spoke with Doub:

Visit The Boulder Daily Camera Article to read full article.

1. Instant Savings predictions
2. Accurate Energy modeling
3. Rebates and programs available to offset upgrade costs
4. Comparison tools to provide various scenarios to fit any budget
5. Real time feedback about the current energy use of a home and the savings realized through energy efficient upgrades to water heaters, HVAC installs and insulation retrofits.

As 30% of all US electricity is consumed by homes, EcoSmart Homes is proud to  be a co-founder of the software and a major contributor to bringing Recurve to Xcel Energy in 2008. Recurve’s Adam Winter said “we [Recurve and Xcel] want to promote EcoSmart as the Recurve ‘SuperUser’ in Colorado – the leader everyone should look to.”

1. Air seal your attic and then add insulation; add ventilation to keep house cool in summer
2. Install vapor & air barriers and insulate crawl spaces and basements
3. Seal leaky ducts in the crawl space, basement, and attic
4. Improve air quality by installing efficient ventilation and heat recovery systems
5. Reduce excessive moisture and mold potential
6. Stop drafts through leaky windows and doors
7. Replace windows and doors for greater comfort and ease of operation, regulating solar gain, dust & allergen control, and increasing security
8. Recommend and install energy efficient options for water heater, furnace, or AC replacement, with air & water filtration as desired
9. Install a whole-house ventilation system
10. Recommend and install renewable energy systems for electricity and hot water

Even the smallest changes can begin to impact your energy bill. Energy rebates and tax credits can help reduce the overall cost for these investments in your home., these upgrades may even be less expensive than traditional remodeling efforts.

BOULDER, Colo. (October 21, 2011) – Xcel Energy’s home energy auditors got some new marching orders recently. Effective January 1, Xcel announced that it will require all contractors that perform home energy audits to use the new industry standard software called Recurve.

EcoSmart Homes, a Boulder based company that conducts energy audits and home performance upgrades, has been designated as a ‘SuperUser’ of the Recurve software and is poised to grow significantly. They are one of the co-developers of Recurve and helped introduce the software to Xcel Energy in 2008. Ecosmart has been using the software exclusively for home energy audits throughout Colorado for over two years and have a proven track record.

Recurve is software used by home energy auditors to calculate the current energy needs and comfort levels of your home. Once the data is entered, it creates a document that visually shows the results of the audit and recommended solutions for homeowners – making solutions ready to be implemented by the EcoSmart Homes team. Recurve makes possible the one-stop solution for comfort, health, and energy improvements.

Recurve’s Adam Winter said “we [Recurve and Xcel] want to promote EcoSmart as the Recurve ‘SuperUser’ in Colorado – the leader everyone should look to.”

Eric Doub, co-founder of EcoSmart Homes, is Boulder-born and raised and leveraging 30 years of home energy leadership to take home performance upgrades to scale. “In addition to saving money on utility bills, our customers are pleased to be helping the environment and have someone to manage the process for them,” explains Doub.

Ecosmart is one of the original home performance companies in Boulder and a Colorado leader in providing home comfort, health and energy benefits. They are well positioned to capture significant market share of the $20B Colorado home performance market and are planning to hire additional staff to meet the demand.

About EcoSmart Homes – www.ecosmarthomes.com

EcoSmart Homes is a one stop shop for home and energy upgrades. Since 2005, they’ve helped homeowners move from a leaky home with high energy bills and cold/hot spots to a super-tight home with low energy bills and a consistent, comfortable temperature throughout. Ecosmart manages the entire home improvement process and minimizes the “transaction stress” associated with dealing with many different contractors.

Eric Doub, co-founder EcoSmart Homes, in front of Solar Harvest, Net Zero home in Boulder.

Photo by Dan O’Connor [http://www.danieloconnorphoto.com]

Additional questions or information, please contact:

Eric Doub, EcoSmart Homes: eric.doub@ecosmarthomes.com , 303-440-7176
Mark Wood, Marketing Coordinator: mw2525@gmail.com, 303-358-3765

October 14, 2011 –
With Boulder’s much-touted “300 days of sunshine a year,” solar power seems like a no-brainer for residents who want to green their home energy. Once financially out of reach for most homeowners, solar is becoming more accessible due to decreasing technology costs and incentive programs that help offset the cost of solar systems.

(Photo by Jonathan Castner)Eric DouB, CEO and founder of Boulder’s EcoSmart Homes, with the Coolorado built by a company in Arvada, that keeps the home air-conditioned but uses only 600 watts of power.

But despite solar’s growing popularity and affordability, it isn’t the only green energy option out there, nor should it be the first one residents consider, say local energy experts. There are numerous alternatives to solar and, luckily, numerous sources of information to help homeowners choose the right ones to fit their energy needs.

Eric Doub, CEO and founder of Boulder’s EcoSmart Homes, says that a homeowner’s first step should be a professional energy audit. Among other things, an energy auditor will check your home for air leaks and inadequate insulation and assess appliances for energy efficiency.

To obtain an audit, homeowners can contact the county’s EnergySmart program, which offers homeowners subsidized energy audits for $120. Afterwards, an adviser helps the homeowner find qualified contractors to do the recommended work and guides him or her through the various incentive programs and financing options.

Alternately, homeowners can hire a home-performance contracting company, such as EcoSmart Homes, which will perform both the energy audit and the necessary upgrades. Either way, “that assessment is vital,” said Julie Herman, executive director of the Boulder Green Building Guild. “It can help you understand where you’re wasting energy and allow you to prioritize what steps to take next.”

Those steps usually include a slate of energy-efficiency measures to reduce energy use (and loss) in the home. “The cheapest unit of energy is the one you don’t use in the first place,” Doub said.

That’s why he and other experts suggest tackling this “low-hanging fruit” first. For instance, EnergySmart auditors switch out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones and install energy-saving showerheads as part of the initial energy audit. Other efficiency recommendations may include air sealing and adding insulation to crawl spaces and attics, recommissioning or replacing inefficient appliances and mechanical systems, and installing a programmable thermostat to regulate heating and cooling.

In addition to lessening greenhouse gas emissions and lowering utility bills (adding insulation and air sealing can reduce heating and cooling costs by up to 20 percent, and a compact fluorescent bulb can save up to $40 in electricity costs over its lifetime), these energy-efficiency measures can make a home healthier and more livable.

“Most of what we do is actually driven by comfort concerns,” Doub said. “Say you’ve got a room above the garage that you can’t use because it’s too hot or too cold. Fixing drafty windows and adding proper insulation can make it comfortable.”

Once you’ve made your home as energy-efficient as possible, you can move on to investigating greener sources of power. “Focus on reducing your energy demands first, then let those alternate sources of energy be like the icing on the cake,” Herman advised. In addition to solar panels, two emerging eco-energy sources are ground-source heat pumps and small wind turbines.

Although the geothermal energy from a ground source heat pump isn’t technically considered a form of “renewable energy,” it’s still an eco-friendly way to heat and cool your home, said Laura Hutchings, CEO of Populus, a sustainable design consulting company and administrator for Boulder’s residential EnergySmart program.

With a ground source heat pump, a network of piping is laid underground. Liquid refrigerant is pumped through the pipes, where it absorbs heat from the ground. The refrigerant is pumped back up and compressed, increasing the heat energy temperature to approximately 120 degrees, which is then used to heat a home’s interior or to produce hot water.

What makes this technology so eco-friendly is its high level of efficiency. Monte Schmidt, owner of geothermal company Blue Valley Energy, explains that, for each watt of electricity used, a heat pump generates about four watts of heat energy, making it up to 400 percent efficient. In contrast, electric heaters and natural-gas furnaces top out at around 100 percent efficiency. And, because the systems utilize off-peak power, geothermal can help smooth out power-grid peaks and valleys.

This efficiency can result in substantial savings. Schmidt said that one customer who switched from propane to geothermal heating saved almost $5,000 in one year. And geothermal can be especially cost-effective when paired with solar power: “I got a call just this week from a client,” Schmidt said. “We put in a geothermal system for him years ago, and he recently added solar panels and extra insulation. Now his house is running at net zero energy use.”

Small wind is a trickier subject. Although the cost of commercial wind energy has gone down significantly in recent years, the technology generally isn’t economically feasible at the residential level. At least not yet.

“You can do small wind in Boulder County, but it’s difficult,” said Brad Queen, energy division director at the Center for ReSource Conservation. Not only does the investment take longer to pay back, but the logistics pose a problem as well. “To get good wind, you need to get the turbine up pretty high, which can be a problem in a residential neighborhood,” he explained. “And you can’t just bolt the turbine to your roof — that will cause damage to the roof and probably still won’t be high enough anyway.”

However, Queen said that small wind does have its place. “It can make sense if you have an off-grid house up in the mountains where there’s lots of wind at night, especially if you couple it with solar panels that produce energy during the day.”

“As the technology improves and the small turbines are better able to handle our dramatic wind storms, I think small wind will become more popular,” Hutchings said.

But despite these recent and potential technological developments, the experts reiterate that reducing your energy demands should come before seeking out alternate sources of energy.

“Solar, ground source heat pumps, small wind turbines — these can make sense in the long-run, but you have to make sure that the design is solid,” Queen said. “And you should only pursue them after you’ve exhausted all the avenues for energy conservation.”

Financing green energy
“With all the incentives right now, there’s a lot of money out there to get back,” Herman said. Here are just a few of the loans, rebates and other incentives out there to help fund your green energy project. Consult your energy auditor for a more comprehensive guide.

The federal government offers a personal tax credit for up to 30 percent of the cost of installing solar water heaters, solar panels, small wind turbines, geothermal heat pumps, and other green technologies.

EnergySmart offers rebates of up to $1,000 and low-interest microloans of up to $5,000 to Boulder County residents to help pay for home-energy upgrades such as air sealing, adding insulation, replacing windows, and purchasing high-efficiency furnaces and water heaters.

Xcel Energy’s Solar Rewards offers rebates to customers who install photovoltaic panels.

Longmont Power & Communications offers matching grants of up to $500 to residents who implement qualified energy-efficiency measures such as air sealing, adding insulation, and replacing furnaces, refrigerators and water heaters with more efficient models.

April 29, 2011 –
SUPERIOR — Pharmaceutical consultant Prafal Shah was keenly aware of a draft that came through the window next to his desk in his home office.

So when Shah met a worker at Boulder-based EcoSmart Homes by chance, he decided to have an energy audit done.

EcoSmart and several other companies in Boulder County do such energy audits by using infrared cameras to take pictures inside and outside houses to show where heat is escaping. Electricity and gas provider Xcel Energy also does audits.

Based on the audit information, companies offer homeowners a variety of “energy retrofit” projects and upgrades — many of which can be subsidized by government tax credits.

So, how did Shah and his wife fare with the various programs and rebates?

After spending $3,000 on labor and materials for projects suggested during the audit, Shah got a $450 tax credit from the federal government for making the energy-efficiency improvements.

His energy bill decreased by 15 percent during the first three months of 2011 compared to the first three months of 2010. From January to March, Shah said he paid $632 for his Xcel Energy bill, compared to $741 for the same period of 2010.

While the outside temperature may have been warmer this year during those months, Shah said he is happy that the work he had done seems to be saving him money every month, and his house is warmer in the winter.

“The main thing is the comfort — the house feels warm all the time,” Shah said. “Before the energy improvements in August 2010, we kept half the rooms and heat vents closed in the house, which we thought saved energy.”

Fox 31/CW2 news segment that aired Wednesday, April 13, 2011

What would you do with $75,000 to do a home comfort and energy remodel?  Enter to win the Home Green Over Project contest by Sunday, April 17, 2011.
Tips for your home comfort & energy remodel:

• Always audit first before you get started – it will help you balance the building science with your budget and hone in on the best way to achieve comfort, health and performance at home while actually saving you time and money.  It will also help you prioritize whether you should do windows, furnace replacement, air sealing or insulation, crawl space retrofitting, etc. first.
• Use a reputable one-stop-shop solution like EcoSmart Homes for all of your energy audit and home improvement needs!
• Principals to follow: make sure the building it tight, ventilated right, and indoor emissions are light.
• Think about having the results verified and monitored with systems that you can run on your computer to check in.
• Make overhangs over windows 2ft instead of 1ft to prevent sun drenching.
• New windows aren’t great unless you air seal around the windows so there aren’t any gaps for air to leak through.
• Install a solar electric system.
• Use finishes (cabinets, countertops, paint, flooring, furniture, staining, etc.) that won’t off-gas and compromise your indoor air quality.
• Use CFL or LED lightbulbs to cut down on energy use.
• Change out old appliances like refrigerators, washers and dryers, and dishwashers with newer, much more energy efficient ones that have the Energy Star label.