Can you build a house even greener than ‘net-zero energy?’ President Obama’s pick to serve as ambassador to Finland has done just that; and you can tour it Sunday in Boulder’s Mapleton Hill neighborhood, 1-4 p.m., just north of Pearl on Fifth.

Bruce Oreck, appointed ambassador to Finland, created the ‘Next West House’ in Boulder, on view Sunday, Aug. 9, 429 Spruce Street, 1-4 p.m.

Boulder developer and environmentalist Bruce Oreck created his ‘Next West House’ to be ‘net-zero carbon’—so efficient that it not only makes more energy than it uses, but recovers enough to compensate for what was used to build the house and its materials. Oreck calls it “the greenest home in North America”…and received a Platinum LEED certification for it—highest possible rating.

When you tour, you’ll have a hard time seeing the systems that allow a home to be that sustainable. The first is 10 kilowatts of solar panels…three times as much generating power as builders provide with typical solar demonstration systems. Next West has one array tucked so tight to the roof you’ll have to look twice to see it; others are hidden on top of the porch and on a second roof pitch further back.

Also hard to see is a 450-foot ground-loop heat pump that recovers warmth from deep in the bedrock during winter (and cools the home during summer)…and within the farm house-style architecture, the heaviest insulation package you’ve probably ever visited: walls to R-50, ceilings between R-75 and R-90. Next West is so conserving that Oreck can heat the entire house in winter with no more than an alcohol furnace smaller than a camp stove. The solar panels provide all of the input; batteries store energy during non-sun periods.

You’ll also view a gray water tank that recovers water from sinks and showers to save the 30% of household use that goes to run toilets; LED (light emitting diode) bulbs that are more efficient and natural looking than compact fluorescents and last 20 years; a magnetic induction cooktop that wastes little heat (and saves on cooling); and a garage plug-in for a modified hybrid or all-electric car.

Oreck notes his ambassadorial appointment is a perfect match to his building work; one study rates Finland as the very greenest nation on the planet. 429 Spruce Street showcases a spectacular lot——steps from Pearl Street; a memorable view of the Flatirons; with an agricultural ditch dating from 1862 that runs from Boulder Canyon behind the house, providing water for the third-acre site. Joel Ripmaster with Colorado Landmark is listing agent, 303-443-3377.

If you go…

WHERE: ‘Next West House,’ Platinum LEED certified, ‘net-zero carbon’ design, 3-bed/3,617 sq. ft., billed “greenest home in North America.” 429 Spruce St., Boulder; take Canyon west from Broadway 5 blks to 6th St., right 2 blks to Pearl, left 1 blk to 5th, turn right, 2 blks.

PRICE: $2.895 million
WHEN: Sun., Aug. 9, 1-4 p.m.
PHONE: 303-443-3377 WEB: 429Spruce.com

BOULDER. Work began last week on a solar-powered replacement for the home of 78-year-old Bobra Goldsmith, known as “llama lady,” who lost her house Jan. 7 to a 3,000-acre range fire that tore through the Boulder County ranch where she raises llamas and alpacas.

Gathering at Bobra Goldsmith’s home site: Brett Steury and Mary Coonce of Porchfront Homes, Goldsmith, and Matt Grandsaert and Tim Webb from Integral Engineering. Goldsmith’s llamas won grand awards at the 2009 National Western Stock Show.

“This is going to be very energy efficient, getting a high percentage of its operating power from solar and super energy-efficient construction,” said Mary Coonce, who together with husband Tim Coonce are principals in Boulder-based Porchfront Homes. “We expect to complete construction in late fall.”

Included in the replacement home’s features are 4.73 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic roof panels, a solar domestic hot water system, and passive solar elements to provide natural heating and cooling. The old home, Coonce noted, had been a passive design dating from the 1970s, with nowhere near the energy efficiency the Porchfront design will provide.

Goldsmith has been living in temporary housing on the ranch site off Neva Road and N. 45th Street, close to where Porchfront crews are at work on a new foundation. Her home and possessions were sole casualty of the wind-whipped fire; all 120 of her award winning llamas and alpacas escaped harm and no other homes were destroyed. News of the fire drew wide support for Goldsmith as she recouped from the loss and made plans to rebuild.

Coonce offered special thanks to several organizations who rallied to help in the fire’s wake, including Tim Webb and Matt Grandsaert of Integral Engineering, architect Richard Sanchez, Colorado Mini Excavating, American Pride Co-op, Bird RV, and solar supplier REC, which is providing the PV panels at reduced cost. She added that the Boulder County Land Use Department had been exceptionally helpful in processing her requests for temporary housing and a building permit.

Porchfront Homes, builder of energy efficient custom homes and neighborhoods, is located at 1847 Yarmouth Avenue in Boulder, and can be reached at 303-442-8453, or on the web at www.porchfronthomes.com.

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In 1993 when gasoline was a buck-a-gallon, architect Doug Beall was inking drawings for a 2,800-foot house plan that had been rattling around in his head since grad school at Berkeley…solar heated, partially earth-bermed, and visually matched to the prairie topography east of Boulder. What he didn’t have was a site, or more importantly in days when energy prices were still pretty low, was any financing.

Today that house, which found both a lot (Erie Air Park) and a construction loan in 1997, is on the market. Beall and wife Julie have raised two teenagers there, are now off to Steamboat Springs (he works for Intrawest, son Kevan is an alpine snowboarding champ) and have the place on the market, 2-acre site included, at $749,900.

The home looks amazingly close to Beall’s vision of 15 years ago: 12-sided architecture with an outside ring of solar atriums around the south, kids bedrooms with cool loft spaces overhead around the north, and a kitchen-center lodge that follows Plains Indian inspiration with a four-sided “spirit post” frame, with firepit below and “oculus” skylight overhead. The coved roof spans 32 feet, entirely supported by tension-compression. (You can see a mini-version of the framing in the adjacent 3-car garage, with loads of shop space).

Energy-wise, Beall learned the hard way what other passive-solar builders have, that the sun likely will deliver too much heat, not too little. Within years of moving in, Beall had to replace the glass solarium roof with smaller skylights, automatically operable both for closing the blinds and for venting unwanted heat. His year-round average monthly XCEL bill for 2,800 feet is $90, including the back-up radiant heated floors (he says it stays comfy in summer due to its heavy massing, partial earth walls, and some spirited looking canvas shade-sails he rigs off the log posts every June.

The right buyer could take this design to a more efficient level with a rooftop photovoltaic system…something that ten years ago was way too expensive, but now is pretty reasonable (visit the Colorado Renewable Energy Society for more info, www.cres-energy.org or www.coseia.org).