2021 winners for the Annual Colorado Green Building Guild Awards
Each year the Colorado Green Building Guild presents these prestigious awards for contributions in the advancement of the green building industry. All winners were announced at our Annual Meeting on January 25, 2022. All winners will receive a certificate, be showcased on our website and be announced on social media.
Leadership Initiative Award 2021
Robert Clarke
A resident of Boulder, Colorado since the early 1980s, Robert Clarke is not only the founder of Alpen but a lifelong innovator and supporter of high performance building. He constantly pushes the envelope innovation in the green building space, and inspires, mentors, and encourages others in doing the same.
Robert is leading international expert in the application of architectural glass technology to sustainable design. Drawing on Princeton Engineering and Stanford Business degrees, he has worked for more than four decades at the forefront of super insulating curtainwall, storefront and window engineering with experience managing the design, manufacture, and marketing of the world’s highest performing architectural glass and windows. Robert’s research and recommendations empower novel designs involving high-percentage glass skins, netzero energy pals, integral PV, dynamic glazing, and HVAC innovation. Robert is a clear leader in the high performance building industry, and Alpen would love nothing more than to recognize his lifetime of achievements by nominating him for this award!
Green Champion Award 2021
Mariana Pickering of EMU Systems
The work EMU Systems does with their passive house training programs makes a big difference in the quality of green building designs we can achieve.
The EMU mission is to close the gap between mainstream construction practices and advanced, proven building science, and empower our industry to build for the future and for resiliency through builder training and simple, standard, Passive systems.
Student Project of the Year 2021
CU Boulder Solar Decathlon Teams - The SPARC House
Colorado Green Building of the Year 2021
Our Affiliate is dedicated to providing the healthiest, most affordable, resilient homes that we can. We believe that our buildings should be a priceless asset that can enable them to move beyond the conditions that allowed them to qualify for our program.
Purchasing local raw materials puts our purchasing power back into the local economy in the hope that it can contribute to reducing the factors that caused the underlying financial inequity our home owners experienced in the first place.
Universal access, environmental health, affordable utilities, resiliency and comfort are all important aspects in our design process. Going forward we are intending to maintain the standards that we have set for ourselves and we are always looking to improve.
The Gunnison Valley is one of the coldest climates in the US. We believe it is imperative to build buildings that reflect this demand while also having the most positive impact on the local economy, environment and community. Our projects use local, unprocessed material as much as possible to satisfy that goal with a keen eye on the health impacts of our actions. In terms of health, our home owner is our first priority, followed by our volunteers, workers and then the greater ecology.Our build is a foam free, low VOC, air tight, net zero building. The thermal envelope is formaldehyde free, using local; straw, clay, recycled paper cellulose insulation and air dried lumber. It passed a blower door test achieving an airtightness rating or .033 ACH50. In the case of a power outage at -20f, our home could be heated by 20 people simply standing in it!