Partners with U.S. Department of Energy to inspire EnergySmart construction

Florham Park, NJ (PRWEB) February 4, 2009 -- On Jan. 21, 2009, BASF, the world's leading chemical company, presented three industry leading homebuilders with the first annual BASF Builders' Challenge Award. The awards ceremony, conducted with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), highlighted the extraordinary progress made by three builders in constructing homes that meet the DOE's Builders Challenge goal of creating homes that achieve 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale). Introduced by the DOE in 2008, the E-Scale allows homebuyers to see how the energy efficiency of a particular home compares to the DOE energy efficiency goal and other homes.The awards ceremony, which took place at the International Builders' Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada, brought together more than 65 construction professionals that included builders, manufacturing partners and representatives from the DOE and BASF, all of whom are committed to promoting Net-Zero energy home building.

Jack Armstrong, Leader of the Construction Initiative in North America for BASF, presented the BASF Builders' Challenge Award to three outstanding builders:
• John Wesley Miller, President, John Wesley Miller Companies, for building the first Net-Zero home completed in the Builders Challenge program.
• Tom Wade, President, Artistic Homes, for meeting the Builders Challenge goal of providing cost-effective Net-Zero Energy homebuilding strategies.
• Nat Hodgson, Vice President, Construction, Pulte del Webb, for building the highest number of homes to qualify under the Builders Challenge in 2008.

      To read the rest of this release, click here.