On January 21, 2009, BASF presented three industry-leading homebuilders with the first annual BASF Builders’ Challenge Award. The awards ceremony, conducted with the U.S. Department of Energy, highlighted the 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 in Las Vegas 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 of construction, Pulte del Webb, for building the highest number of homes to qualify under the Builders Challenge in 2008.


“Creating added value for our customers and society is a key driver for all of us at BASF,” said Armstrong. “For residential construction, that translates into a passion to enable everyone someday to live in a Net-Zero Energy home.

“Although chemistry is a key contributor to improving the energy efficiency of our homes and workplaces, we need events like this one, where like-minded, professionals form a community to make it a reality. In that spirit, we honor these builders whose passion inspires others to create a Net-Zero energy future.”

The DOE Builders Challenge, launched at the 2008 IBS, is a voluntary, energy-savings program to encourage the nation’s homebuilding industry professionals to create 220,000 high-performance energy-efficient homes by 2012.

The department’s goal is that homeowners will be able to purchase cost-effective Net-Zero Energy Homes anywhere in the U.S. by 2030. The 1.3 million homes to be built to the challenge standard between now and 2030 are expected to reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking 606,000 cars off the road annually.