Representatives from KB Home, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Builder magazine today unveiled the KB Home GreenHouse: An Idea Home Created with Martha Stewart. The innovative net-zero energy home is the 13th in Builder Magazine’s Concept Home series tradition that annually showcases an impactful and interesting new concept in homebuilding during the industry’s premier trade conference, the NAHB International Builders’ Show (IBS).
Martha Stewart Net-Zero Energy Home at IBS
With the IBS set to begin, the project partners hosted members of the media during a special event at the home. Members of the media were among the first to tour the KB Home Greenhouse and participated in a question and answer session with Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; Jeffrey Mezger, president and CEO of KB Home; and Boyce Thompson, editorial director for Builder magazine.
Attendees were impressed with the elegantly traditional exterior, free flowing and inviting interior as well as the home design’s ability to bring the outdoors in via a telescoping patio door that spans the length of the kitchen and leads to a spacious lanai.
“We were happy to be a part of this project with KB Home. It allowed us to build on our already successful partnership by creating the ultimate ‘green’ home that is not only environmentally friendly, but also beautiful, functional and affordable.”
– Martha Stewart
In addition to its aesthetic appeal, the KB Home Greenhouse achieves a new dimension of environmentally friendly building for KB Home; it is the company’s first net-zero energy home, meaning it is intended to produce more energy than it consumes over the span of a year. As such, it has been labeled as a “Maximized Energy-Efficient Home” by the U.S. Department of Energy. Additionally, the home has been recognized with a variety of other green building achievements, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR and WaterSense qualifications, U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes Platinum rating and Environments for Living green certification.
The builders took this opportunity to go above and beyond and built the Martha Stewart net-zero energy home that incorporated new ideas and technologies, including a real-time energy monitoring system and a solar thermal water heater.
We should be able to post more photos and info on the home from the 2011 IBS.
