Partners With U.S. Department of Energy to Inspire EnergySmart
Construction
On Jan. 21, 2009, BASF, the world's leading chemical company, presented
three industry leading homebuilders with the first annual BASF Builders'
Challenge Award. The awards ceremony, conducted with the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE), highlighted the extraordinary progress made by three
builders in constructing homes that meet the DOE's Builders Challenge
goal of creating homes that achieve 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home
Scale (E-Scale). Introduced by the DOE in 2008, the E-Scale allows
homebuyers to see how the energy efficiency of a particular home
compares to the DOE energy efficiency goal and other homes.
The awards ceremony, which took place at the International Builders'
Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada, brought together more than 65
construction professionals that included builders, manufacturing
partners and representatives from the DOE and BASF, all of whom are
committed to promoting Net-Zero energy home building.
Jack Armstrong, Leader of the Construction Initiative in North America
for BASF, presented the BASF Builders' Challenge Award to three
outstanding builders:
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John Wesley Miller, President, John Wesley Miller Companies, for
building the first Net-Zero home completed in the Builders Challenge
program.
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Tom Wade, President, Artistic Homes, for meeting the Builders
Challenge goal of providing cost-effective Net-Zero Energy
homebuilding strategies.
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Nat Hodgson, Vice President, Construction, Pulte del Webb, for
building the highest number of homes to qualify under the Builders
Challenge in 2008.
"Creating added value for our customers and society is a key driver for
all of us at BASF," said Armstrong. "For residential construction, that
translates into a passion to enable everyone someday to live in a
Net-Zero Energy home.
"Although chemistry is a key contributor to improving the energy
efficiency of our homes and workplaces, we need events like this one,
where like-minded professionals form a community to make it a reality.
In that spirit, we honor these builders whose passion inspires others to
create a Net-Zero energy future."
The DOE Builders Challenge, launched at the 2008 IBS, is a voluntary,
energy-savings program to encourage the nation's homebuilding industry
professionals to create 220,000 high-performance energy-efficient homes
by 2012.