Dive Brief:

• In Georgia, Luis Imery built two homes that earned the EarthCraft Platinum rating, then hooked up with Atlanta architects to go for a net-zero energy house.
• The newest house is based on energy modeling and computer visualizations, and the result is design features that add to energy efficiency, such as overhangs sized on the basis of sun angles and an entryway clad in brick and designed to encourage downstairs air convection.
• Imery said his goal was to tap a market that his research showed wanted energy-designed homes rather than just curb-appeal properties that he felt large builders were putting up.

Dive Insight:

Imery was either slow or had great timing. or both. He left his job as a construction manager for conventional suburban Atlanta housing in 2007, and his plan to assemble information to support his business plan kept him from being a startup as the recession made a mess of things. He also benefited along the way from forming the Imery Group as an agent to verify EarthCraft and other green rating systems, a business that has about 200 houses in process at any given time.