Irvine Company, City of San Francisco Win Green Building Leadership Award

7 organizations honored with a 2014 GreenPoint Rated Award for their innovation and commitment to green homes

[Oakland, CA – Dec 17, 2014] – Build It Green has announced seven GreenPoint Rated Award winners for 2014, each selected for their leadership in residential green building in California.

Congratulations to the 2014 winners:

• Community Builder of the Year: The Irvine Company
• Affordable Builder of the Year: Resources for Community Development
• Visionary Builder of the Year: Start.Home at Jasper Ridge
• Custom Builder of the Year: Conrado Home Builders
• Green Building Leader in the Public Sector: San Francisco Department of the Environment
• Home Performance Contractor of the Year: Eco Performance Builders
• GreenPoint Rater of the Year: Richard Yang

“These professionals are moving the state of California closer to its aggressive climate and energy goals one building at a time,” said Catherine Merschel, CEO of Build It Green. “From Net Zero Energy homes to Solar Decathlon winners to cities pushing the envelope on building codes, the 2014 GreenPoint Rated award winners are the green building innovators and trend setters for California and the nation.”

The annual GreenPoint Rated Awards recognize the industry’s leading building professionals and organizations whose on-the-ground efforts are helping to transform the market for green homes. Their innovations include building and remodeling homes to GreenPoint Rated standards, which emphasize energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, resource conservation and community features.

Winners of the GreenPoint Rated Awards were selected by Build It Green’s technical staff, which has worked closely with hundreds of builders, raters, contractors, and local governments. Selection criteria include commitment to sustainability and green building innovation, the builder’s volume of GreenPoint Rated projects and GreenPoint Rated home scores, improvements in scores over time, and ability to market and message the benefits of green buildings.

“These winners are raising the bar in the building industry for what a healthy, high-performing home looks like,” said Amy Dryden, Senior Technical Manager at Build It Green. “They also reflect the visionary and collaborative spirit of the GreenPoint Rated system, where builders, local governments, contractors and raters work together to deliver results for homeowners and communities.”

Community Builder of the Year: The Irvine Company

The Irvine Company—comprised of master planners, community builders, real estate investors and asset managers—celebrates 150 years of stewardship and master planning this year. The company has donated approximately 55,000 acres of parklands and open space to the historic Irvine Ranch, part of an effort to create one of the largest urban land preserves in the country. In 2014 alone, Irvine Company completed 460 new homes in eight developments—all of which achieved the GreenPoint Rated certification. To date, Irvine Company has completed more than 11,000 GreenPoint Rated homes. www.irvinecompany.com

Visionary Builder of the Year: Stanford University Start.Home at Jasper Ridge

The Start.Home was Stanford University’s student-designed and built entry in the 2013 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, coming in 5th overall and 1st in affordability. Reassembled on-site at Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, the goal was to create an affordable Net Zero Energy home that can be brought to market nationwide to help homeowners integrate sustainability into their lives. The home features sustainably sourced materials, passive heating and cooling, PV panels and a custom home energy management system. http://news.stanford.edu/features/2014/starthome/

Affordable Builder of the Year: Resources for Community Development

With more than a decade of experience in green building, Resources for Community Development (RCD) addresses the issues of housing and poverty while also offering green, sustainable options to people earning 20-60% of the median income. In addition to using GreenPoint Rated guidelines to drive energy and resource-efficient building methods and materials, RCD has green operations and maintenance standards in use throughout its portfolio of 50 properties. http://rcdhousing.org

Custom Builder/Remodeler of the Year: Conrado Home Builders

Conrado is committed to creating sustainable, cutting-edge homes, and they skillfully articulate the value of green building to their customers. Driven by the vision and passion of the homeowner, Conrado Home Builders custom-built a Net Zero Energy home in Palo Alto that combines aesthetics, environmental considerations and quality construction. Features include low-flow plumbing fixtures and toilets, low/zero VOC paints, a smart irrigation controller, 14.6kW PV system (estimated 22,900 kWh annual production) that handles house load and plug-in car, radiant floor heating, and live oak ecosystem—adding up to an impressive GreenPoint Rated score of 163. Conrado achieved this success through deep collaboration with the rater and homeowner. www.conrado.com

GreenPoint Rater of the Year: Richard Yang

Among the field of talented raters in California, Richard Yang distinguishes himself not by the volume of homes he rates, but the quality of his work. Yang consistently receives excellent reviews for his services; he always shows attention to detail and submits excellent documentation. He is highly regarded for his responsiveness to clients and to GreenPoint Rated staff. Yang has rated 26 single family homes since 2011, including the Start.Home Solar Decathalon home.

Green Building Leader in the Public Sector: San Francisco Department of the Environment

The San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) has been at the forefront of the nation’s green building movement, and 2014 was no exception. As state energy code updates were set to take effect in 2014, the City looked to update its groundbreaking green building ordinance to even higher, above-code standards.Even though delays in implementing the state energy code complicated their efforts, SF Environment took proactive steps to collaborate with a private consultant and Build It Green to move forward and prove the cost-effectiveness of their updated ordinance to keep it intact. SF Environment’s leadership remains an inspiration for other local governments in California and nationwide. The department also won this award in 2012 for including green building labels in their official property records, one of myriad examples of their groundbreaking leadership in this field. www.sfenvironment.org

Home Performance Contractor of the Year: Eco Performance Builders

Eco Performance Builders aren’t your typical home performance contractors. They take existing home upgrades to another level by addressing issues beyond energy savings—like water conservation and indoor air quality, and they’re committed to achieving GreenPoint Rated certifications. They’re so skilled in their craft that they continually seek new challenges and opportunities to push the envelope for green homes.

This summer, Eco Performance built a new and unique Net Zero Energy home in the Oakland hills. The home boasted outstanding performance and a groundbreaking guarantee: zero annual energy bills for the first three years or Eco Performance would pay the difference. As this award underscores, that confidence in their work. www.ecoperformancebuilders.com

About Build It Green and GreenPoint Rated

Build It Green is a member-supported non-profit working to expand the market for green homes in California. Our mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient building practices in California through outreach and education. Learn more at www.builditgreen.org.

GreenPoint Rated is the most trusted independent home rating system in California, for proof that a home is healthy, comfortable, durable and energy efficient. More than 21,000 homes have been rated through the program, administered by Build It Green. These homes have collectively saved more than 58 million kilowatt hours of electricity, 259 million gallons of water, and 103,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. Learn more at www.greenpointrated.com.