This spring, the Department of Energy hosted its 2015 Race to Zero Design Competition at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. More than 120 students from some 33 teams representing 27 different universities vied for top honors. The goal of the high performance entries was to go above and beyond the call of creating an energy-efficient home whose system can offset all or most of the stucture's annual energy consumption. Among the categories included in competition were the Design Excellence Awards. And the winners are:
• H4: Heritage Homes - Heritage Homes
Penn State University, State College, PA
• Independence Heights Net Zero Ready Home - Prairie View A&M
Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX
• Provenance Lane - Provenance Lane
Ryerson University Department of Architectural Science, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Ø-Zone Residence - Ø-Zone
Ryerson University Department of Architectural Science, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Desert Sunrise Home - Desert Sunrise
University of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
All images: John De La Rosa/NREL
