From a 3,500-home carbon-neutral community in Arizona to Passive House certification on a 34-unit Manhattan apartment building — see what AeroBarrier makes possible.
For five years, Mandalay Homes founder Dave Everson worked to offer carbon-neutral homes as a standard feature on every home they sold — not as a premium upgrade. The problem: the typical approach to net-zero is to load a roof with solar panels and ignore the budget. A typical code-built 2,000 sq ft home needs around 60 panels, costing roughly $60,000.
There is a direct correlation between lower air changes per hour (ACH) and fewer solar panels needed for net-zero. Everson had pushed a typical Mandalay home from a 74 HERS Index in 2012 to a 50 HERS Index by 2016 — but no matter how disciplined the team was on insulation and manual sealing, they could not get below 1.4 ACH. At that number, 30 solar panels per home were still required, adding about $30,000 to the price — too much to offer as a standard feature.
In 2017, Mandalay became one of the first beta-test partners for AeroBarrier. The result was immediate: AeroBarrier reduced the typical Mandalay home from 1.4 ACH to 0.6 ACH. That single step cracked the energy + homebuilding equation.
Combined with sonnenBatterie storage, the tighter envelope meant a typical 2,000 sq ft net-zero Mandalay home now requires only 8 solar panels instead of 60 — a $50,000 cost difference. Mandalay broke ground on 3,500 carbon-neutral homes in the Jasper master-planned community.
"At Mandalay, we believe the catalyst to the carbon-neutral community is AeroBarrier and it will be used on every home we build."
For 30 years, New Tradition Homes has led the Washington home-building market, constructing over 5,000 single-family homes. Every New Tradition home is certified ENERGY STAR and Built Green Washington 3-star — the only high-volume builder in the state to achieve both, consistently. They received ENERGY STAR's highest honor, Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence, in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Their typical home scores a 54 HERS Index — significantly better than the Washington state code average of 72 and well above the ENERGY STAR threshold of 65. But their sights were set higher: zero energy ready homes at market-competitive prices.
Energy rater Ron Nardozza, who has been New Tradition's third-party verifier for over a decade, was one of the first to bring AeroBarrier to their attention. At the International Builders Show, AeroBarrier won best product innovation. New Tradition took notice.
The first test was on Nardozza's own home — a 3,600 sq ft personal build. The result: within 90 minutes, ACH went from 2.6 to 0.6. The reduced energy demand meant the home would require very little solar to achieve zero energy.
"Within 90 minutes, the ACH went from 2.6 to 0.6. It was quite remarkable. The application was easy to set up, and the results were immediate."
As ACH decreases, so does the number of solar panels required for a zero energy home. With AeroBarrier reducing typical homes to sub-1.0 ACH, zero energy becomes financially feasible — and potentially a standard feature, not a premium option. New Tradition has already built 80 homes in the solar-ready Badger Mountain South community, with more underway.
"Once we reduce energy demand low enough, less solar is required and a zero energy home becomes financially feasible — giving us the ability to scale. If you can remain market competitive and offer a zero energy home, why wouldn't you do it?"
For New York architect Chris Benedict, compartmentalization — effectively sealing the envelope between apartment units — is the holy grail of multifamily design. It's critical for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and limiting the migration of bugs, smoke, and noise between units.
Her newly constructed 6-story Upper West Side apartment building had been manually caulked by contractors, bringing it close to Passive House-level compartmentalization — but not quite there. With plumbing, electrical, and sheetrock already installed, further manual sealing was deemed impractical. The project needed a solution that could work on a completed building.
After AeroBarrier proved successful sealing a test unit, Benedict gave contractors the go-ahead for the full building. The AeroBarrier team sealed all 34 units to Passive House levels of 0.6 ACH50 in just 8 days. Post-manual-sealing, AeroBarrier added an additional 47% leakage reduction — achieving overall compartmentalization well within calculated Passive House parameters. Blower door tests confirmed the results.
"I don't know of any other way to get the level of tightness we were looking for. No amount of caulking could get this type of result. Most importantly, with AeroBarrier, you know you're going to get the results you want in the end. It's cost-effective and highly efficient at reducing energy costs and improving livability for our tenants. There's nothing that can compete with that."
"It was blowing people's minds — mostly because monitoring compartmentalization in a multi-family building under construction is typically a very difficult, time-consuming task. The level of coordination and commitment you need to get from all contractors on the job is as critical as it is nearly impossible to achieve. With AeroBarrier, it's simply not a problem."
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