“After the Solar Decathlon competition in 2011, the winning team comprised of Parsons The New School and the Stevens Institute of Technology students, received the green light to build their Empowerhouse at a display site on the National Mall and have it serve as a real home for local families,” according to Aurimas Sabulis, managing director of Intus Windows (http://intuswindows.com/), a worldwide leader in the manufacture of high performance passive house compliant windows. “The team partnered with DC Habitat and the DC Department of Housing and Community Development to secure a plot and find a family to live in it, becoming a two-story, and two-family duplex.”

According to Sabulis, the house was built using Passivhaus principles, requires minimal amount of energy for heating and cooling and is equipped with solar panels. Since the start of the project, half a dozen of these homes have been completed and The New School is pursuing a similar project with Habitat for Humanity in Philadelphia.

“The building won the inaugural award for affordability at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon in 2011,” Sabulis says. “After the competition, this incredibly energy-efficient home was moved off the Mall and taken to the Deanwood neighborhood to its new location. Additional modules were brought onto the site where they were assembled into a duplex equipped to provide housing for two families.”

According to Sabulis, the house uses Passivhaus design principles and is net-zero energy thanks to a solar photovoltaic system. It has superior installation and uses 12-inch wooden I-joists for walls, with cavities filled with dense pack cellulose insulation. Of course, he says, Intus Widow products were used in the construction of these models to achieve the highest levels of energy efficiency, affordably.

“Passive House homes are built to the world’s most stringent energy standards,” he explains. “This can result in a reduction of annual heating and cooling energy consumption by an average of up to 90 percent.”

For its D.C. version, Sabulis said the original design was adapted to Washington’s humid climate, with optimized solar gain. The project is expected to have a broader impact and serve as a real home for families across the country. Following the success of its D.C. version, the project will see its continuation in Philadelphia.

“This proves that the solar decathlon is more than just a competition,” says Sabulis. “It provides a progressive platform for students to provide solutions to real-world housing needs. At Intus, we are so happy to see this project evolve as well as it has and proud to have been an integral part of it all.”

Intus Windows (http://intuswindows.com/) is a pioneer in manufacturing and distributing super energy-efficient windows and doors in the United States. Driven by technology, innovation, and continuous progress Intus Windows energy-efficient windows, doors, and curtain walls lines will fit any commercial, residential or industrial application, and they are Passive House Certified and suitable. For the past 21 years the company has manufactured and installed more than 800,000 windows and doors all over the world, with main export markets in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe. Today, with a manufacturing facility in Lithuania, Intus has entered into the super energy-efficient window market here in the United States. For more information, call 1-888-380-9940.