Saving energy with plastics on the 2023 New American Home

This year's New American Home joins its predecessors in taking energy efficiency to the max from a desert pad in Henderson, Nev., with views of red rock canyons and the Las Vegas strip.

The 2023 showcase of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is enveloped with building products boosting thermal performance with foam, multi-layered insulation, polyethylene-coated paper and fiberglass.

"This house will be one of the most energy efficient houses in Nevada and probably the entire country," Travis Holden, Luxus Design Build project manager, said in an NAHB video about construction of the two-story, 7,575-square-foot dwelling.

This is the 40th home built by the Washington-based trade group to demonstrate the latest best practices and products for residential construction. Public tours coincide with the NAHB's major event, the International Builders' Show (IBS) held Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 in Las Vegas.

Situated in the Ascaya subdivision, where rock star Gene Simmons of Kiss and Raiders owner Mark Davis bought property, this year's showcase home features a 45-foot span of Awake brand windows with thin aluminum profiles to widen the view of the back yard, which overlooks natural and urban settings.

"As soon as you open that front door there's transparency ... over an infinity edge pool," Michael Gardner, Luxus design principal, says in the video about the home's construction challenges and achievements.

Supply and labor shortages were constant struggles and the builders raced to finish the house with four bedrooms, six bathrooms, one half bath, a two-and-a-half-car garage, flex/exercise area, a gas fireplace and roof terrace with amazing views.

Out of sight, however, are some of new products that will make the desert dwelling comfortable beyond the large overhangs and lightly colored exterior to protect it from the harsh Nevada sun.

Holden pointed to FiFoil Co. Inc.'s Hy-Fi brand triple-layered insulation, which can be used as a wall or ceiling system with spray foam to reduce radiant heat transfer. The FiFoil website says the product can add another R-7 to the wall and offers flexibility for last-minute wiring changes.

Hy-Fi consists of a layer of paper coated with PE, an internal layer of aluminum foil and a third layer of paper laminated to aluminum foil reinforced with fiberglass.

"It's very simple and easy to install," Holden said. "It pushes us to that next level of energy efficiency. It's what's going to set us apart from everything else we've done."

The New American Home also has an unvented, air-sealed attic with open-cell polyurethane spray-foam insulation (R-19) and exterior frame walls sheathed with Kingspan Kooltherm K12 framing board insulation(R-8) and more open-cell PU spray foam.

Kooltherm has a fiber–free rigid thermoset phenolic insulation core faced on both sides with a composite foil used in wood or steel frame walls. It resists water vapor and can be used between studs or as an insulating sheathing.

Finally, the entire home was sealed with AeroBarrier, a waterborne acrylic sealant installed by computer-controlled spaying equipment that sends a fog of sealant particles to fill air gaps and holes.

Manufactured by a division of Aeroseal LLC, which is based in Centerville, Ohio, AeroBarrier is installed after the drywall around ceilings, walls, floors, doors, windows, and electrical and plumbing fixtures.