WASHINGTON (April 17, 2015) - The  Spray Foam Coalition of the American Chemistry Council's Center for the Polyurethanes Industry announced that it is sponsoring a competition for students to design energy efficient, high performance homes.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)  Race to Zero Student Design Competition was created to inspire the next generation of architects, engineers, construction managers and entrepreneurs to design homes with features that sharply reduce energy use and offset all or most of the remaining energy with renewable energy. In the competition, undergraduate and graduate student teams submit market-ready designs for homes that are more energy efficient than standard new homes. The entries are judged by experts that include builders, building science professionals and researchers.

Last year, Montage Builders Northern Forest project was named the  Grand Winner for Best Single-Family Detached Design with a design that used spray polyurethane foam as an air sealant.

" Energy efficiency is the foundation for building net zero energy homes , and spray polyurethane foam can play a major role in insulating and air-sealing these high-performance homes ," said Justin Koscher, director of the Spray Foam Coalition. "The Spray Foam Coalition is proud to sponsor this event that provides future leaders in sustainable construction with the skills and experience that further their education and careers, and we applaud the competition's focus on developing solutions for real-world problems."

The Spray Foam Coalition is an  organization of companies that produce and sell polyurethane spray foam insulation systems as well as suppliers of raw materials and machinery used to apply the foam.