Habitat For Humanity Home Comes From Solar Decathlon

By Tori Mason

DENVER (CBS4)- Habitat for Humanity will soon give one family the chance to buy an affordable, award-winning home. This home will focus on green energy sources.

Students from University of Denver and University of California Berkeley designed and built an energy-efficient house during last year's Solar Decathlon. They donated the award-winning creation to Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver.

Habitat for Humanity separated the home into two pieces and moved it 20 miles across town to Habitat's College View community. Volunteers will spend the next few months adding the final touches.

Once the home is finished, it will be sold to a low-income family with an affordable mortgage. A lot of energy goes into building this house, but once it's done it will use almost net-zero energy.

In addition to solar panels, the house also has progressive design elements like recycled kitchen tiles and wool insulation. The floors and railings in the two-bedroom house have a 50-year lifespan.

The home also has a light wall to transport sunlight through a sealed cavity and into the bathroom. Habitat for Humanity strives to make all their homes energy efficient, but this one goes beyond.

"We really pride ourselves on building homes that are not only affordable to purchase. It's also really important when setting monthly budgets to have a home with predictable monthly utility payments. Ideally, with a net zero energy home an electricity bill would be nothing," said Robyn Burns, Habit for Humanity of Metro Denver.

This house will be completed in a few months. Habitat for Humanity is always looking for volunteers to lend a hand.

LINK: Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver

Tori Mason is an award-winning reporter for CBS4 This Morning. Follow her on Twitter @ToriMasonTV.