Awards: Don has received national and state recognition for his achievements, winning a National Association of Home Builders EnergyValue Housing Award in 1996, and in 1997, an Iowa Energy Leadership award from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

DPO qualifications and experience: Don has been building energy efficient homes in the Iowa City area for nearly 30 years. Beginning with designing and constructing his own home with his wife in 1977, to building Iowa's first 5-star energy rated home in 1995, he has continually researched, developed and incorporated cost-effective energy efficient techniques in his construction business.

Training: He is an American Lung Association certified Health House builder, completed the Energy and Environmental Building Association (EEBA) Train the “Trainer” workshop for Cure for the Common Callback, attended three EEBA-Building America workshops on Houses That Work, and, most recently, completed the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED-NC) workshop for New Construction.

Board memberships: Don recently served as a member of the board of directors of the Energy and Environmental Building Association, and currently serves on the boards of the Iowa Association for Energy Efficiency, The Center On Sustainable Communities, and IRENEW, the Iowa Renewable Energy Association.

Publication: Don has a published, peer-reviewed article Installed Performance of Two Insulation Systems in Simulated Windy Conditions, US Department of Energy/ASHRAE, Conference Proceedings, Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Buildings VII

Research: With the University of Iowa Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and supported by a grant from the Iowa Energy Center, Don is currently researching the movement of moisture between foam insulation and wood framing in a home he built in Solon, Iowa.

"You know you have reached perfection of design
not when you have nothing more to add,
but when you have nothing more to take away."
- Antoine de Saint Exupéry