The first phase of Wild Pointe Ranch, a housing development in Elizabeth, Colorado, about 30 miles south of Denver, has sold out. The first five model homes completed for the next phase – which is expected to total 110 homes – will be available for viewing next fall, but with a green angle to their marketing pitch: like the rest of the homes that will be built at Wild Pointe Ranch, the models will be constructed to qualify for LEED for Homes Platinum certification, making WPR one of the largest LEED Platinum communities in the U.S.

Accordingly, the developer, C&A Companies, and partner Energy Environmental Corporation, a Denver-based HVAC specialist, are soliciting funding, sustainable-construction products, and marketing services from additional, prospective partners. The development team, which already has five builders onboard, last week released a request for information (click here for PDF) from businesses interested in supplying any of the following products and services:

• Promotion of energy efficiency and environmental stewardship

• Sustainable design, materials, construction methods, and integrated building components

• Products for improved air quality and low-VOC construction materials,

• Renewable-energy components for smart-grid and grid-connected applications

• Recycled/reused materials (ideally within 500 miles of Elizabeth, Colorado)

• Foundation and advanced framing systems

• Interior and exterior finishes

• Insulation, weatherization, sheathing, roofing, windows and doors

• Plumbing system components, and fixtures for reducing water consumption

• CFL and LED lighting, integrated controls, and reduction of miscellaneous electrical loads

• Energy Star criteria and high-efficiency appliances

• Landscaping plants, components and controls for low energy and water usage

• Whole-house automation and controls (BACnet- and/or ZigBee-compliant devices)

• Advanced-technology HVAC systems (heat pumps, solar cooling, ERV/HRVs)

• Renewable-systems financing and green investment partners

Responses to the request for information are due by December 11.

Marketing a big green community

The developers say they will spend more than $500,000 promoting the project at a special fall event they’re calling ENERGY freedom Festival of Homes, which will use the five model homes to highlight the affordability, design, building envelopes, sustainable materials, and energy systems of WPR housing.

The new houses at WPR will be serviced by ground-source heat pumps as well as solar and wind power systems, which collectively are expected to provide enough energy to power the HVAC and domestic hot water system of each home, making them 50% to 70% more efficient than conventionally constructed homes of comparable size.

The developers add that the project will create about 150 jobs for workers directly involved in WPR construction and about 185 more jobs in businesses that will help supply products and services during the build-out.

Energy Environmental Corporation is hardly new to LEED for Homes standards. The company supervised construction of a LEED Platinum home that, before completion, was featured on the 2008 Energy Star Summit Tour for homes built in Colorado. The same home, which was built and is owned by EEC president Al Wallace, also will be the demonstration house for the 2009 Energy Star Summit in Denver on December 9.