Santa Fe Students Build ‘Tiny’ Homes to Test Energy Efficiency Codes
The Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association (SFAHBA) recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity and a local nonprofit called YouthWorks to provide students with opportunities to build tiny homes. Three dozen students from a Santa Fe, New Mexico high school took part in the project in which they set out to test the energy efficiency of three different tiny homes built to different codes by seeing how long ice lasted before melting in each home. The program had many volunteers from the SFAHBA, and expects to build off a foundation for future opportunities to engage with the community to increase student exposure to home building.
Miles Conway, executive officer of the SFAHBA, came up with the program as a way to bring interest in project construction to kids. Conway stated, “If you want the youth of your community invested in the future of your community, have them build it.”
