The Proud Green Home of St. Louis provides an educational platform to inspire building professionals and consumers about the benefits of sustainable, high performance home strategies. As the project’s geothermal heating and cooling partner, Enertech Global is playing a key role in this unique home build by providing a GeoComfort geothermal system.

Online publisher, ProudGreenHome.com, has partnered with Hibbs Homes, Verdatek Solutions, and the University of Missouri’s High Performance Buildings Research Center, to build the five-bedroom, 3,700 square-foot, Prairie-style home. Designed by architect Curtiss W. Byrne, the home in Wildwood, Missouri is expected to meet a number of prominent green building standards, including U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR for Homes, Indoor airPlus and WaterSense standards, the National Green Building Standard (ANSI ICC-700), and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Net Ready home standard.

The GeoComfort 6-ton vertical packaged system is designed to provide the homeowners the benefits of geothermal heating and cooling, including lower annual operating costs, whisper-quiet operation, and superior comfort. The ability to control multiple zones makes GeoComfort ideal for the Proud Green Home of St. Louis project, because it will help control the amount of energy being used to cool and heat the residence.

The Proud Green Home of St. Louis required the most energy efficient systems to make the net zero goal a reality. Starting with heating and cooling, Enertech’s GeoComfort geothermal system ensures minimum energy consumption but maximum outputs for interior comfort. 

“The geothermal system is the perfect foundation for this project as much of a home's energy usage can be attributed to the heating and cooling. The GeoComfort system maximizes occupant comfort while providing the control to make it as energy efficient as possible,” said Enertech president and CEO Steve Smith. 

The St. Louis project follows on the success of the Proud Green Home of Serenbe located near Atlanta, Georgia, and built in 2013. From its demand control hot water pump, high performance windows, energy efficient appliances and GeoComfort geothermal system, the Proud Green Home of St. Louis is another showcase of energy efficiency.

“We are proud to work with the builder, Hibbs Homes, and the HVAC contractor, Scott-Lee Heating Company on this project. Both are great advocates for the GeoComfort brand and for geothermal technology,” said Tim Wright, Enertech sales manager. "The Proud Green Home of St. Louis is a perfect example of what can happen when like-minded companies and individuals come together to do something great for the planet. We're proud that a GeoComfort product helped make this project a reality."

The Proud Green Home of St. Louis was turned over to its owners in February. In a partnership with the High Performance Buildings Research Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the Proud Green Home of St. Louis was featured as part of the green building curriculum for students, and included long-term energy and water usage monitoring.

Additional information about the project can be found at www.ProudGreenHome.com.