Greener Builder Media has a 17-year history of producing the most cutting-edge home demonstration projects in the market. The company is now partnering with nationally esteemed Thrive Home Builders to bring to life The Sonders Project, a 220-home sustainable community located in Fort Collins, Colo.
The Northern Colorado community is notable because it showcases Thrive Carbon-Wise, a new building approach to producing carbon-neutral homes. This method focuses on carbon reduction, including both operational carbon, such as the energy used in heating, cooling, and lighting in a home, as well as the embodied carbon from the manufacturing of the home’s components.
The age targeted for the community is 55 and over, with the Sonders community featuring single-family homes, duplexes, and townhomes, all of which will have intentionally small footprints. This highlights quality and sustainability to meet the needs of today’s home buyers. Production of these homes will begin in Autumn.
“Sophisticated demand-side energy management solutions and smart home technologies can now optimize resource use and improve indoor air quality without homeowner interaction,” says Sara Gutterman, CEO of Green Builder Media.
“Intelligent solar, battery storage, and energy management systems can interconnect homes within a community so that they can harvest and share energy before drawing from the grid. And a new generation of sustainable building products makes net zero energy, water, and carbon readily attainable.”
By applying the Thrive Carbon-Wise building practices to the homes at VISION House Sonders, it’s estimated that a total of 1,023 tons of carbon emissions will be reduced when compared with a 2021 IECC home. As a result, the homes will be healthier for the homeowners, and the negative environmental impacts will be significantly lowered.
“We’ve been witnessing the results of climate change locally and globally,” says Gene Myers, Chairman and Chief Sustainability Officer at Thrive.
“Warmer temperatures also mean a longer plant growing season, which contributes to heightened pollen in the air that worsens allergies and asthma. Our healthy homes help with these airborne triggers.”