New Frameworks Construction Honored for Efficient Building & Renovation
Burlington, VT
New Frameworks Construction has received two “Best of the Best” awards for energy efficient construction and renovation from Efficiency Vermont. The Burlington firm took top honors for its design of a new house in Middlesex and for its improvements to a Norwich home.
New Frameworks Construction’s design for a 1,600+ square-foot home in Middlesex emphasized air tightness, featuring advanced framing techniques, high R-value insulation, and efficient windows and doors. The design also focused on local, renewable fuel systems, incorporating an automated pellet boiler, a direct-air supply wood stove for backup heat, and a solar water heating system. With ENERGY STAR® certified LED lighting, optimized daylighting, high-efficiency appliances, ductless heat-recovery ventilation, and solar-powered electricity, the home’s energy costs have been cut by $1,670 per year.
In its award-winning Norwich renovation, New Frameworks Construction took a whole-building approach to meeting the homeowners’ goals for comfort, indoor air quality, and transitioning away from fossil fuels. The firm conducted comprehensive air sealing and insulation, made improvements to basement enclosure and wall assemblies, installed whole-house ventilation, and replaced the existing oil boiler with three cold-climate heat pumps. The homeowners are now more comfortable – in summer and winter – and are paying over $1,600 less in energy costs.
A total of 13 award recipients were recognized on February 3rd at Efficiency Vermont’s annual Better Buildings by Design conference in Burlington. This is the Northeast’s premier design and construction conference, focusing on building efficiency, durability, and value. More than 1,000 leading building design professionals and construction tradespeople attended.
Given annually, the Best of the Best awards recognize high achievement by architects, engineers, builders, and contractors using energy efficiency and sustainability practices to construct or renovate Vermont buildings. Awards are given for commercial and residential new construction, commercial major rehabilitation projects, renovations completed by Building Performance contractors and home improvements made by Home Performance with ENERGY STAR contractors.
About Efficiency Vermont
As the nation’s first Energy Efficiency Utility, Efficiency Vermont has helped Vermont avoid over 13.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence award for the last eight consecutive years. Efficiency Vermont works with partners to help our state transition to more affordable, low carbon energy use through education, incentives, and support for our clean energy workforce. Learn more at www.efficiencyvermont.com.
Efficiency Vermont Press Contact
Matthew Smith
Phone: (802) 540-7662
[email protected]