On a dirt lot north of downtown Denver, Germany has erected dasHaus — an uber-tight unit demonstrating technology for creation of homes that save energy and money.
This is the house's final stop on a 25-city tour that shows off inch-thick vacuum panels for super-insulated walls, triple-pane windows that don't leak, ventilators that recover heat from stale air. The idea is to help Americans who spend $80 billion a year on home heating and cooling, which is a major source of carbon emissions.
But dasHaus is bittersweet because some of the tricks perfected in Germany were hatched in Colorado.
German diplomats unveiling the exhibit — open and free at 25th and Lawrence streets until Tuesday — told how a professor visited Colorado and learned from the likes of Amory Lovins at an experimental home in Snowmass before launching the "passive house" movement back in Germany.
Today, government-backed manufacturing of building materials and expansion of solar and wind power is propelling Germany's economy.
"Here is the future in front of you," Consul General Bernd Fischer said as 40 or so energy-efficiency aficionados gathered this week. "It is a future of getting rid of fossil energy to heat homes."
Americans interested in modifying their homes to save energy may buy German products, he said. "German companies are at the top of the technology chain."
But Scott Morrissey, manager of the residential building program in the Colorado Energy Office, said builders and renovators can find Colorado-sourced products for business and home applications. "Within most markets in the United States, there's a great deal of efficiency that can be obtained on a cost-effective basis without needing to go to the true top-of-the line in energy efficiency products."
Colorado leaders have been promoting the state's leadership in the research and development of energy technology at universities and government labs. State officials recently provided a $1.3 million loan to Denver-based Ravenbrick, helping the company raise $5 million to begin production of super efficient windows.
Denver residents keen to construct energy-saving homes — about 15 are being built around Denver — say they often need technology and materials made elsewhere, which forces up costs.
Triple-pane windows, for example, are "one of the most expensive components," costing tens of thousands of dollars on some projects, said Lance Wright, vice president of the U.S. Passive House Alliance, which advocates construction that requires fewer solar panels due to superior insulation and air-tight design.
Wright built a house near the University of Denver for which annual energy bills are $300, he said. That's less than many residents will pay in a single month during winter.
"It's not just cheaper to operate," Wright said, "it is comfortable. It has good air quality. It is durable."
The dasHaus exhibit sits on a vacant lot where Denver-based international development entrepreneurs experiment with innovative structures and urban farmers grow food.
At the exhibit opening, Denver's chief sustainability officer, Jerry Tinianow, said he'd recently been in Germany and admired the prevalence of trains, abundant wind farms, and towns where most homes had solar panels.
Denver ranks "among the greenest cities" and is "one of the most-advanced cities in renewable energy," Tinianow said.
"Yet when I stand in dasHaus," he said, "I am jealous."
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700, twitter.com/finleybruce or bfinley@denverpost.com
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