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Next Generation Home Alliance
Building science is leading a
quantum leap in better homes
for better living at lower costs and greater
prosperity
Practical sustainability in
action™
"Don't find a fault.
Find a remedy." - Henry Ford
The Next
Generation Home Alliance is a non-profit community approach to
sharing knowledge, information, experience and expertise on advances in making
homes better and cost less. It was selected to perform advanced work for City,
County and Federal housing programs to determine how to achieve both higher
quality AND greater affordability. The project found ways to greatly improve
the quality and performance of houses and yet cut the costs of home
ownership for most people by as much as 50% - and even more. For the
average homeowner this amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars over a
typical 30-year mortgage period. Wouldn't you prefer to stop throwing that
money away and put it to better use?
News
Applications are now being accepted for the Next Generation Home Program. If you are planning to
improve, renovate, remodel or build your dream home, you can have a much better
home that costs a lot less to own. Information follows.
These
annual community events give you a chance to catch up on the latest
advances and learn how to put them to good use yourself:
Tucson Innovative
Home Tour
Tucson Solar
Tour
Next Generation Home
Seminar
Information on the seminar follows below. |
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News
You too can
have a much better home that costs much less
Whether you are
planning the home of your dreams, or improving or adding to the home you
love, the Solar Institute can help you do it. The Next
Generation Home Project is accepting applications for consulting
support for the planning, design and construction of the first Next Generation
Homes, as well as renovations of a similar nature.
If you
would like a home that is much better and costs much less over the longer
term, as well as fit in much better with its environment, be sure to
get in touch with us. |
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Practical
Sustainability: How to have a much better home at much lower
cost
Events
Summary Information 2011
What's
happening. On Saturday, November 5th, start your day off
right with the Next Generation Home Seminar, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Catch up on the latest advances and learn how you can put them to good use
yourself. The Tour follows the seminar, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and
continues Sunday, November 6th, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m.
Next
Generation Home Seminar
Saturday, November 5, 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
How to have a much better home at much lower cost. Tucson's officially
recognized Next Generation Home Program presents the best unbiased,
non-commercial information, advice and ideas from local experts for on the
latest advances for improving your home, remodeling, building and buying - plus
an analysis of the real costs of home ownership and how you can reduce them by
up to 50% and more.
When. Saturday, November 5, 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
with registration starting 8:00 a.m. The tour is 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. with
tickets available at the seminar 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Where.
Take the seminar and get your home tour tickets at Pima Community College's
Campus Center Auditorium (CC 180), 1255 N. Stone Ave., just north of Speedway.
Lots of free parking: enter the first drive north of Speedway, turn left. Just
go in the main entrance.
How. The seminar is $10 per person,
$5 with tour ticket. Registration is only at the seminar. Cash only - please
bring exact amount.
More details and
information will soon be updated below.
Tucson
Innovative Home Tour and Tucson Solar Tour
Saturday and Sunday, November 5 and 6, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m.
New advances for better homes and better living, with an
emphasis on sustainability and fitting in with the natural environment. Choose
among up to 20 exceptional, award-winning and nationally recognized homes,
speak with owners, designers and builders, and discover new ways to make your
home much better and cost a lot less in this special non-profit, non-commercial
community sharing of the latest advances, sponsored by dozens of nonprofit
organizations, educational institutions and government jurisdictions.
When. Saturday and Sunday, November 5 and 6, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where. Tour is city-wide and self-guided. There are different homes each
day. Tickets include a tour guide with directions.
How.
Tickets for the tour are $10 per person. Cash only - please bring exact amount.
Tickets are good for both days. Ticket sources follow.
Click here for
more
details and information on the Tucson Innovative Home Tour
and Tucson Solar Tour.
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Next
Generation Home Seminar 2011 - Special New Features
How
to improve your existing home successfully - and
cost-effectively
With the recent interest in improving
and renovating existing homes, the Tucson Innovative Home Tour this year
features five homes that offer homeowners a wide variety of good ideas of how
to make homes much better and cost less: This will also be a major topic at the
Next Generation Home Seminar on Saturday morning before the tour.
Most major home improvement projects are done so poorly that
savvy buyers generally avoid houses that have been subjected to such treatment.
During the seminar, you will be able to learn
* How to
avoid the biggest and most common mistakes in home improvment,
* How to do
it right, from planning to carrying out an effective home improvement
project,
* The economics of cost-effective home improvement, and
* The
crucial things you need to produce exceptional results.
Special
Guest Speaker
Featured in the Tucson Weekly's special
feature article on the Tucson Innovative Home Tour this year, the new Super
Energy Efficient Design Home has already won a number of major national
awards. Completed early this year, this innovative new 1900 sq ft home is
specifically designed for super high level energy efficiency and healthy indoor
environment. It features polyurethane foam core Structural Insulated Panels
(SIPs) for the exterior walls and roof, a first-of-its-kind radiant floor
cooling and heating system for the entire home and, with a solar power (PV)
system and solar water heating it is expected to become a net-zero-energy home
on a cost-effective basis.
Our guest speaker will be Michael
Ginsburg, designer and builder of the remarkable home, who will discuss how
he did it. Ginsburg is President of La Mirada Homes, in Tucson.
www.lamiradahomes.net
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From the
news
Popular press discovers value
of next generation of homes.
"We are building the wrong kinds of houses. "Last month, while
researching a story on energy-efficient home building ... dozens of experts
convinced me we can change the way we build houses. The new methods range from
subtle, such as passive solar design and framing with structural insulated
panels, to advanced, such as using rooftop photovoltaic modules for converting
the sun's rays to electricity and constructing exterior walls with insulated
concrete forms." More
Universal design is an important
new concept for anyone planning to build or buy a new home. It's
about designing homes as if people mattered. It means greater functionality,
adaptability, flexibility and much lower long-term costs in a home to meet our
current and changing needs. Thanks to the leadership of the Tucson
Commission on Disability Issues, our community is also at the forefront of
advances in this field. Click above to learn more about why this is important
to you.
Passive solar design is the
“hot building technology” of our times, according to
renowned building scientist, J. Douglas Balcomb. "I see two reasons for it to
lead architectural design in coming years: It is a critical technology for the
21st century, and it works." Read this article and others in
Solar
Today, the journal of the American Solar Energy Society,
including coverage of the National Solar Tour. You can many applications of
passive solar design principals on the tour.
Sustainable living in the desert. Click here to
see the Arizona Daily Daily Star's great Sunday Home feature on
one of the fascinating homes on a recent Tucson Innovative Home Tour, a chance
to see homes with "practical and cost-effective ways to exist better in
Southern Arizona's climate." The featured home is a "... treasure trove of
items that reduce environmental impact ... 70 percent of exterior irrigation
comes from gray water or rainwater ... By the kitchen sink, a tap dispenses
water from the rooftop solar water still ..." and much more. |
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Now
is the time to build your dream home
The news gets worse every day for
home owners: the costs of houses, materials, products, utilities, taxes and
everything associated with homes are not just going up, they are increasing at
alarming rates. [See "The latest ..." on the Homeowner's Alliance page.]
However, those who are interested in pioneering a new approach to designing and
building a high quality home that will cost a lot less over the long term now
have a unique opportunity to fuflfill that dream.
For years,
Tucson's officially recognized Next Generation Home
Project has analyzed not only all the functions and values of a home
and how to improve them, but also all of the major costs of a home and how to
reduce them as much as possible. Designing and building a new home the right
way can result in total savings of up to 50% for the long-term cost of home
ownership. This includes reductions as much as 75-80% for utility bills and
other operations, maintenance and repair costs. Think of what it would mean to
cut your costs of home ownership in half.
The Alliance is
now ready to make the results of all this effort available to a few aspiring
homeowners who are willing to be the first pioneers to put this new approach to
designing and building a home to the test.
The Next Generation Home
Project is accepting applications for the first pioneers of Next
Generation Homes. Applicants must understand that this is a new approach to
designing and building a home that has never been attempted before. Like any
new pioneering development, it will encounter new challenges and problems, and,
of seminar, has risks associated with that. Applicants should be highly
interested, willling and able to work together cooperatively with architects,
engineers, scientists, builders and others to faithfully follow this method
through to satisfactory completion, test the results and share their experience
with the community. Because this is a test of real-world conditions, applicants
must also be financially sound and have their own financing. The project will
take advantage of available tax credits, rebates and other measures to minimize
costs, but no grants are available for the project. It should be anticipated
that the initial price of the house will be higher than comparable standard
homes to achieve the quality necessary to reduce costs over the longer term. We
will also consider applications for major renovations and
additions.
Click here for information on how to
get in touch with us. |
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The latest help for you from the Next Generation Home
Alliance
Information, consulting and referral
services. The Solar Institute's family of community organizations
offer expert help for a wide range of services and products for your home and
business. It's a non-profit, non-commercial, community sharing program that
helps you get the best unbiased expert information and advise to satisfy your
needs and the best value for your money. Join the Tucson Solar Alliance or the
Tucson Homeowners Alliance and you can get simple questions answered at no
charge, as well as complete consulting at greatly reduced rates. This works
like Consumer Reports: these organizations are not affiliated in any way with
any business and do not receive money or other considerations from any
commercial enterprise. Click here for information on how to get in touch with
us.
 The Solar Institute has solutions for
you.
Not many people
realize that it is possible to substantially reduce the costs of home
ownership. Studies by the Next Generation Home Alliance analyzed all of the
major costs of home ownership in Tucson and then determined how to reduce them.
Designing and building a new home the right way can result in total savings of
up to 50% for all costs and savings as much as 75% for things like gas and
electric costs, and other operations, maintenance and repair costs. Think of
what it would mean to cut your costs of home ownership in half. Savings for
existing homes can also be substantial.
One of the main
focuses of the Tucson Innovative Home Tour and the Next Generation Home Seminar
is to show you how you can do that. You may be surprised at how much better you
can live at much lower costs.
To help you do that, the Solar
Institute now offers information, consulting and referral services for members
of any of its family of community organizations, generally at very good
discounts. Others have done this - we can show you how.
Click
here for information on how to get in touch with
us.
Learn by doing. The Next Generation Affordable Housing Project is an
innovative nonprofit community service to recruit and engage the considerable
knowledge and experience of the broad community to put the remarkable recent
advances in home design and construction to use in City and County housing
programs. This is a voluntary effort helping non-profit housing providers
design and build a new generation of much better, much more affordable homes
for those who need them most. You too can help - and learn while you are
helping others! There are many ways you can help and no experience is
necessary. Click here for more
information.
Value of the Home Class and Tour:
Priceless! You will learn about a wealth of new innovations that can
not only revolutionize your castle, but also slash the cost of home ownership.
For most homeowners, the potential long term savings from such advances can be
up to 50% and even more. This adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars over
a typical 30 year mortgage period. |
Next
Generation Home Seminar
Tucson's
officially recognized Next Generation Home Program presents the best unbiased,
non-commercial information, advise and ideas from local experts for improving
your home, remodeling, building and buying – a comprehensive, factual,
information-packed class to help you get what you want in a home and greatly
reduce the costs of home ownership, with the emphasis on practicality and cost
savings. Every year, it features the latest news and new advances in designing
and building a better home in southern Arizona.
Next
Generation Home Seminar 2011
The
Next Generation Home Seminar focuses on the
crucial needs of homeowners: how to improve the quality and performance of a
house and how to reduce the costs of a house. A weath of new advances and
innovations can not only transform your castle, but also slash the costs of
home ownership.
The seminar includes
an analysis of the real costs of home ownership and how you can reduce many of
them by large amounts. For the average homeowner, the potential long term
savings can be up to 50% and even more - savings of hundreds of thousands of
dollars over a typical 30 year mortgage period.
Each major component
of a house is discussed - including local environment, site, foundation, walls,
roof, building materials, heating and cooling, electrical, plumbing, and so on
- as well as how new advances and good sound design and construction practices
can result in a much better house that may cost you little more to build, but a
lot less over the long term. This includes results of fhe Next Generation Home
Program for Tucson and Southern Arizona.
In the seminar, Paul
Huddy, physicist, engineer and building scientist, will discuss
"Advances in Sustainability: How to Make Your Home
Much Better, and Cost a Lot Less". Step by step, Paul will show how,
by making good choices, you can use new technology, products and experience in
these fields to have a much better home that will cost you a lot less. Whether
you would like to design, build, purchase or remodel the home of your dreams,
you will find lots of practical and cost-effective information, ideas and
solutions. "By appropriate design and construction, the Next Generation Home
Program has shown that you can have a far better home, yet cut the costs of
home ownership during the first 30 years alone by up to 50%," Huddy
reports.
Ten things you'll want to know
Also, you won't want to miss "Ten
things we all wish we had known before we got into this mess," ten things you
might prefer not to learn the hard way. You will want to hear about ...
The ten biggest and most expensive
sources of repair and maintenance problems for a homeowner and what you can do
to cut them by 75% and more.
Ten powerful trends that mean
trouble – trouble you don't want to be unprepared for.
Plus, the ten biggest mistakes
people make in designing and building a home.
The ten biggest mistakes people
make in buying a home.
The ten biggest mistakes people
make in repairing and remodeling their home – and, of course, how you can
avoid them.
Plus ten things you should do right
now to protect your home and save a lot of time and expense.
Other topics include
...
Homeowner
economics, an important opportunity to learn what the real costs of home
ownership look like over the long term and how you can save literally hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
The
latest advances in design and construction – what works, what doesn't, and
what these have to offer you.
New
building alternatives and what they mean to you, including straw bale, rammed
earth, adobe, concrete masonry units, insulated concrete forms, structurally
insulated panels, steel frame, plus many other ways of using high insulation
and thermal mass for extraordinary indoor comfort at low cost.
Plus a
review of the homes on the tour this year and all the interesting new
things you can see and learn about.
The
Next Generation Home Seminar is one of the
best investments you will ever make in your home. You won't want to miss it.
Please help pass the
word ... and bring your family and friends. We look forward to seeing
you.
We would like to add
a big Thank you! to our friends at Pima Community
College, who are hosting this year's Next Generation Home
Seminar. You will find many courses available there relating to design and
construction.
Seven Keys to a
Better Home
A revolution in housing is taking shape - and Tucson
is nationally recognized as being in the forefront of it. Click here for a look
at key concepts for designing, building and renovating for a better home that
can cost much less.
Seven
Keys to a Better Home - the
home of the future can be yours today.
 Learn as you
do
The
Next Generation Affordable Housing Project,
one of our community projects, has now completed its fifth phase of work. It
focuses on helping the City and County and local non-profit housing providers
to develop a new generation of high quality houses that cost little more than
current construction, but offer much greater long-term savings, higher quality
and a better home environment. That's the biggest challenge. In doing that, we
can help everyone in similar ways.
Now we are starting the next phase
of the project: designing and building. Volunteers are needed right now
to help organize and carry out this big effort. We invite you to join in this
remarkable community work to make better homes a reality for everyone. If you
are interested in how to have a much better home that costs much less, this is
your opportunity to learn about it and help others who need it most. No
matter what your background, you can help. Please get in touch with us today.
This is a
non-profit, noncommercial public service organized by a community partnership
of many local, state and national nonprofit organizations and educational
institutions, as well as the City of Tucson, Pima County, the State of Arizona
and the U.S. Department of Energy.
What You
Can Do
Participants and
supporters of this community initiative include many individuals,
organizations, businesses, educational institutions and government. Anyone who
has lived in a house can raise questions or contribute ideas to this. Anyone
who lives in a house can learn from it.
If you would like to participate
or help, please get in touch with
us.
You Are
Invited
We invite you to become a
part of this community sharing too. Share your dreams for the future and get
some good ideas for your own use in return. Together we can make better homes
and communities. Put the power of community on your side. Join the Next Generation Home Alliance.
Here's
how!
jump to:
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other information-gathering devices on visitors. We try to make this site as
accessible and useful as possible. If you encounter problems or have
suggestions, please be sure to let us know. Thank you!
Credits: We would like to thank
the City of Tucson, Pima County, the Tucson-Pima County Metropolitan Energy
Commission, Tucson Commission on Disability Issues and the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development for support and funding, as well as the many
organizations and individuals who have contributed to making these community
initiatives such a success.
© Copyright 2012 Solar
Institute, Inc. ® Solar Alliance, Tucson Solar Alliance, Solar Alliance of
Greater Tucson, Tucson Innovative Home Tour, Next Generation Home, Next
Generation Home Alliance, Next Generation Building Institute, Tucson Homeowners
Alliance, Natural Living Alliance and Tucson Community Solar Program are
registered trade names of the Solar Institute. All rights reserved.
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