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Home Innovation team scores high praise from DOE's Building America.

10/04/2013 Irvine, CA

Building America Announces Top Innovation Award Winners

Partnership for Home Innovation Recognized for Several Advances in High Performance Homes

Innovations sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building America Program and brought to fruition by its teams of building science experts continue to have a transforming impact, leading our nation's home building industry to high-performance homes. This morning, during the 2013 Solar Decathlon in Irvine, Calif., at a ceremony sponsored by BASF, DOE announced this year’s winners for its Top Innovations Awards, which recognize the very best in innovation on the path to zero net-energy ready homes. The Partnership for Home Innovation (PHI), led by Home Innovation Research Labs, was recognized for four of the 10 selected innovations.

From among nearly 50 submissions for consideration from Building America teams, DOE the following as Top Innovations for 2013:

"To be considered a Top Innovation is a high bar,” according to Sam Rashkin, chief architect, DOE Building Technologies Office. “The selection team asked for nothing less than a compelling demonstration that each selected innovation will transform the housing industry in one or more areas of high-performance.”

Rashkin went on to say that innovations were selected based on the strong industry partnerships behind them or other indications to ensure future market adoption, and their demonstration of being achievable at a reasonable cost. The PHI team, one of only two Building America teams to be recognized for four innovations, was recognized for its work in Next Generation Advanced Framing, Zero-Energy Ready Single-Family Homes, Exterior Rigid Insulation Best Practices, and Quality Management System Guidelines.

Home Innovation Research Labs President Michael Luzier said, “We’re honored by this recognition and grateful for the dedication and collaboration of our assembled Building America team members, who share our focus to create integrated, system-based technology advancements in an effort to remove technological, regulatory, and cost barriers to building innovation.” PHI team members include: Southface Energy Institute, ARES Consulting, Jeannie Leggett Sikora, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Business Excellence Consulting, Brick by Brick, Residential Building Industry Consulting Services, NexusEnergy Homes, Utilivate Technologies, and many others.

More information on Building America and its 2013 Top Innovation Awards is available on the Housing Innovation Awards website. More information on Home Innovation Research Labs and its services is available by visiting www.HomeInnovation.com.

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