The CEO of a Boulder, Colorado, renewable energy company has the motivation and the means to meet Boulder County's green-building code, BuildSmart, one of the strictest in the country.
Ronald Abrahamson has already maximized insulation, installed a geothermal system and sited the house to take advantage of passive solar gain, but he still needs to put up 2,500 square feet of solar panels to meet BuildSmart's requirements.
"I have the land for the solar system; that's not the issue," he said. "And I have the desire to put it in."
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"I think that BuildSmart is a very well-intentioned law," Abramson said. "It's the implementation that's the problem."
County officials are planning to reconsider some of the rules, which set goals for energy efficiency. The larger the new house, the more energy it's required to create.
The only thing Abramson apparently hasn't tried is building a house much smaller than 13,000 square feet.
