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.’”
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.
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.’
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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
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.