May 19, 2023 9:00:00 AM

Building Science Green Home of the Year 15th Annual Green Home of the Year Awards

Sustainable Housing: The Perfect Panacea

7 min read

The latest iteration in Thrive Home Builders’ sustainability line raises the bar ever higher.

HOTY_LogoNetZ After spending two decades helping to complete Denver’s master-planned Central Park neighborhood—site of the old Stapleton Denver International Airport, and now home to more than 30,000 residents among 12 neighborhoods—Thrive Home Builders decided to offer “the best of all worlds” with its ultra-sustainably crafted “Panacea Collection.”

According to Thrive, the award-winning community—Panacea is Green Builder’s 2023 Green Home of the Year for the Net Zero Plus category—the goal was to “incorporate all of the building science we have acquired over the two decades of building in the development. We envisioned homes that encapsulated the ‘best of all worlds.’”

From the Judges: “A nice-looking home with lap and brick siding, and a craftsman feel with a stained wood gabled front porch roof and heavy columns, and mid-Century, modern-styled upper windows.” Credit: Zachary Cornwell/Zachary Cornwell Photography

The homes have the best of nature with adjacency to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge; the best of the city with close access to Denver International Airport and downtown via light rail; and luxury that treads lightly on the environment with net zero energy, backup battery power, fossil fuel free homes, and the best of indoor air quality, energy efficiency, health, and water conservation.

Project Stats

Name: Panacea Collection – Central Park Denver, Denver, Colo.
Builder: Thrive Home Builders
Architect/Designer: Seth Hart, DTJ Design
Developer: Brookfield Residential
Landscape Architect: Valerian
Photographer: Zachary Cornwell, Zachary Cornwell Photography

Panacea is Green Builder’s 2023 Green Home of the Year (GHOTY) for the Net Zero Plus category. It’s an upgrade of a similar Panacea project and GHOTY award winner from 2019.

According to Thrive, the goal this time around was to “incorporate all of the building science we have acquired over the two decades of building in the development. We envisioned homes that encapsulated the ‘best of all worlds.’

Panacea’s key to success—the community sold out last fall—has been Thrive’s POWER OF ZERO green building approach. “It means cost savings for homeowners, a healthy, beautifully designed energy-efficient home, and the comfort of knowing that the home was built with the most-innovative techniques and air quality systems in the industry,” notes Thrive Home Builders CEO Stephen Myers. “We bring together award-winning architecture with the highest level of health and energy features.”

Click to view a larger image

All In With All-Electric

Each solar-powered Panacea home focuses on clean indoor air, health, and sustainability. They feature trademarked Zero Energy construction and LEED’s top tier Platinum certification. Homes within the Panacea Collection also have a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index score of 9, which result in greater comfort, lower operating costs, and higher resale values.

A typical all-electric home in the collection, with 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, two floors and 5,000 square feet total, would have a monthly energy bill of about $30, which is $6,150 less than a non-solar dwelling of the same style and size. Over 30 years, a homeowner would save an estimated $300,000 in energy costs.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently named Panacea as one of its Zero Energy Ready Homes for 2022. Thrive is also a 2022 U.S. Environmental (EPA) Indoor airPLUS Leader Award winner.

“We take pride in building advanced, healthy new homes,” Myers notes. “These days, there has never been a more critical time to consider the indoor air quality of a home and truly help homeowners breathe easier.”

Even Greater Good

Each home’s superior health features are enhanced by active radon systems, advanced MERV 13 air filtration, and balanced ventilation to draw clean, fresh air into the housing, and remove bacteria, allergens, and mold.

Sustainable features include ENERGY STAR certified structure, R-39 walls and an R-50 attic; windows with a U-factor of 0.23 and an SHGC rating of a miniscule 0.21; A 9.88 kilowatt photovoltaic system and 10 kilowatt hour backup battery; all-LED lighting; U.S. EPA-certified low-flow WaterSense fixtures; and Energy Star-rated appliances.

0123gb_p53 “Panacea also represents an important step along Thrive’s journey to carbon neutrality,” Myers notes. “Net zero energy, all-electric homes have a zero operational carbon footprint. We see this as setting a precedent for carbon neutral homes of the future.”

Green Builder 2023 GHOTY judge Theresa Gilbride, who is a building energy efficiency researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, believes the Panacea Collection offers a lot to one facet of the homebuying public. “It would definitely appeal to move-up buyers, especially families,” she notes. “Building professionals could find plenty to emulate in Thrive, which is making very efficient homes.”

Panacea Sanctuary 1st floor

Key Components

Alternative Building Systems: Double 2-by-4 Advanced Framed Wall System

Appliances: Samsung

Automotive (Electric): Standard 220 V for future charging station

Building Envelope: 9.5-inch-thick R-39 wall, U-0.25 Windoers, R-50 Attic, 2.51 ACH50

Cabinets: Merillat Masterpiece

Countertops: MSI Quartz

Doors and Hardware: Kwikset

Electrical: Schneider Electric Square D; Wiser App

Exterior Finishes: LP siding

Fireplace: Simplifire

Flooring: Shaw Coretec Plus

Garage Doors: Midland

Home Controls: Diaken One–Stat and Skybell HD Doorbell

HVAC/Ducts: Diaken

Insulation: Johns Manville

Lighting: Kichler

Paints and Stains: Sherwin Williams ProMar 400 Zero VOC

Plumbing/Plumbing Fixtures: Delta Faucets

Renewable Energy Systems: Solar

Roof: Precision Roofing: Owens Corning

Specialty Products: Enphase IQ Battery 10T Battery Backup; Schneider Electric Wiser App energy monitor
Ventilation: Balanced system with Panasonic and Whisper Green Exhaust

Water Filtration: Insinkerator

Water Heating: Navien

Windows, Skylights, Patio Doors: Milgard

ENERGY STAR-certified appliances and LED lights help bring a Panacea home’s monthly utility costs to about $1 per day. Credit: Zachary Cornwell/Zachary Cornwell Photography

Thrive Home Builders uses no- and low- volatile organic compound (VOC) interior and exterior paints on all projects, improving air quality and eliminating paint odor faster. Credit: Zachary Cornwell/Zachary Cornwell Photography

U.S. EPA WaterSense-certified low-flow faucets, showerheads and other fixtures are online inside and outside of the house. Credit: Zachary Cornwell/Zachary Cornwell Photography

Expansive and well-placed windows enable natural lighting inside the bedrooms for much of the day. Credit: Zachary Cornwell/Zachary Cornwell Photography

Green Home of the Year Awards: The Judges

Three judges made the important decisions in the 2023 Green Home of the Year program.

As we move from one major lifestyle challenge—an emergent pandemic—to another, with historic storms and record heat, builders have been continuously challenged to adapt. Green Builder’s 2023 Green Home of the Year winners are well constructed, energy efficient and creatively designed. But our grand winner topped them all by emphasizing the local economy and the environment.

Our expert panel of judges evaluated projects in terms of overall sustainability, resilience, synergy with the environment, affordability, creativity and the depth of science employed.

Mike Barcik LR Mike Barcik is a technical principal at Southface Institute, a nonprofit which promotes sustainable homes, workplaces and communities through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance. He has been with the Atlanta-based organization since 1995. With Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech University, Barcik is the author of numerous technical resources and has developed and led thousands of trainings for RESNET, EEBA, BPI, LEED, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other programs. Since 1999, Mike has trained more than 1,500 individuals in RESNET’s Home Energy Rating System (HERS) program. Mike lives with his much-smarter architect wife and two daughters in a 1920 Craftsman bungalow that they are lovingly restoring. Thanks to efficiency improvements and a 4-kilowatt photovoltaic array, the family has offset 90 percent of their electricity consumption and reduced natural gas usage by 67 percent.

TL Gilbride 03-20p Theresa (Terri) Gilbride is a building energy-efficiency researcher with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, where she supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as a content manager for its Building America Solution Center and the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program. Gilbride has authored or co-authored dozens of reports, articles, and case studies on residential energy efficiency and related topics. She has spoken and published on residential energy efficiency, disaster resistance, zero energy homes, and affordable and healthy homes. Gilbride served as the lead editor and author of the Building America best practice guides, a 17-volume series which includes climate-specific manuals for high-performance home builders in all U.S. climate zones, and retrofit guides on air sealing, insulation, and HVAC. She has also helped publish documents on building codes and emerging technologies, including window attachments, solid state lighting, and HVAC.

Nathan Kahre_EnergyLogic headshot Nathan Kahre brings his experiences working for a home builder to Energylogic, an applied building science company based In Berthoud, Colo. As the innovation and Initiatives manager, Kahre works on internal and externally facing proJects to keep Energylogic at the forefront of innovation and excellence in the residential home building industry After graduating with a master's degree in building science from Appalachian State University, Kahre came to the Denver metro area to work for a high-performance production home builder. Time spent working for that builder has helped Kahre understand what is important to builders and what information they need to get their jobs done. He has presented on building science, renewable energy, and home builder quality assurance throughout the country including sessions at RESNET, EEBA, and IBS. Kahre is also active in the local community, volunteering on issues that are important to him, and doing his best to be on a mountain bike as much as possible.

May 19, 2023 9:00:00 AM · 7 min read

By Alan Naditz

Alan Naditz is managing editor of Green Builder Magazine. He has covered numerous industries in his extensive career, including residential and commercial construction, small and corporate business, real estate and sustainability.

Sustainable Housing: The Perfect Panacea