StalwartBuilt Homes Partners with U.S. Department of Energy in New Builders Challenge

February 14th, 2008

StalwartBuilt Homes president Julius Poston today joined with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to announce a new national energy-saving initiative—the U.S. Department of Energy"s Builders Challenge.

The Builders Challenge kick-off event was held at the International Builders" Show in Orlando, Fla.

"For StalwartBuilt, building high-performance homes has been a core business model for the last 25 years," Poston said. "We welcome this voluntary initiative for builders, and look forward to working with DOE to build consumer awareness of the benefits for buying highly energy efficient homes."

The EnergySmart Home Scale, or E-Scale, will serve as a tool for marketing energy-efficient homes. Consumer interest has been increasing in the top energy-performing homes, and now there is a tool that clearly allows builders to differentiate their products in the marketplace.

"Stalwart Built believes it is possible to build new homes that are more efficient than code by 30 percent or better at little or no net cost," continued Poston. "Achieving these efficiencies does require sophisticated design and installation techniques that go beyond standard industry practice, but the competitive advantage of these homes with their high quality means faster sales. And, we believe this kind of high-performance building is the right thing for our nation, our natural environment, and our customers."

The challenge program encourages U.S. home builders to adopt the E-Scale on a voluntary basis, and also to utilize best practices for home design and construction. The initiative seeks to accelerate use of successful whole-house design and construction practices that have been developed and verified through DOE research in its Building America program.