All America Homes of Gainesville, Fla. has been awarded the 2003 EnergyValue Housing Award (EVHA) Silver Medal by the NAHB Research Center for the custom home/hot climate category. The EVHA awards acknowledge builders who voluntarily intergrate energy efficiency into the design, construction and marketing of their new homes. The home, which incorporates many uses of solar energy, was also awarded the South East Builder's Conference's 2002 Grand Aurora Award for Solar Energy.

All America Homes has been in business for 17 years, and builds 10 homes each year. Their 3,644- square-foot home is an excellent example of how energy efficiency adds value to homes. The house takes advantage of Florida's abundant sunshine in several ways: a 2.5 kW photovoltaic array produces electricity form the sun, a 4' X 8' solar water heater which produces 40 gallons of pre-heated water using the sun's energy, a solar pool heater, a solar powered attic fan for energy-free ventilation, and solar-powered low-voltage patio lighting. Because of this innovative combination of solar energy features the home won the South Eastern Builder's Conference's Grand Aurora Award for Solar Energy.

To further improve the home's energy efficiency, the home also features a hydronic heating system which uses energy provided by the solar water heating system with a natural gas backup, used in conjuction with a high efficiency airconditioner (SEER 14+) and a variable speed air handler. This system maintains relative humidty in the house at or below 60%. The home also features radiant barrier roof decking, which reduces solar heat gain throught the attic; air conditioning duct work installed totally in the conditioned space (duct leakage to the exterior less than 5% of air handler flow); dense pack blown cellulose insulation (R-30 in the ceiling and R-13 in the walls), reduced window area with double pane glass used through out the house; large roof overhangs to reduce solar gain through windows; high windows located beneath the roof overhangs to provide daylighting without contributing to solar heat gain. 85% of the lighting in the house is fluorescent. Air sealing results in very tight house (estimated air changes per hour of less than 0.1), with a filtered fresh air inlet on the return of the A/C.

All of these features combine to result in a house that exceeds the Building America goal of 50% energy savings for heating, cooling and water heating. The home has a Home Energy Rating Score (HERS) of 90.4. The HERS reference house, used for comparison, is modeled to comply with the 1992 Model Energy Code, and has a HERS of 80. Each additonal point in the score represents a savings of 5% for heating, cooling and hot water heating. Building America's goal of a 50% savings for heating, cooling and hot water heating represents a HERS score of 90.