The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has named the recipients of the 2013 LEED for Homes Awards, recognizing projects, developers and homebuilders that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in residential green building. The award categories recognize innovative multi- and single-family projects, production builders, affordable housing projects and developers, an overall commitment to LEED for Homes and Project of the Year.

Winners for this year include:

Outstanding Single Family Home of the Year: Wallace Residence (Earthship Farmstead), Kaplan Thompson Architects

Located in Stuart, Va., Earthship Farmstead is an earth-sheltered, LEED Platinum, energy-positive certified Passive House that also operates as a working water buffalo farm. Designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects and built by Structures Design/Build, this project met the client’s ambitious goal to build a farmstead in the Virginia mountains that would be as self-sufficient as possible. The house will use 90 percent less energy for heating than a typical house, and it can be heated on the coldest night of the winter with the energy of two hairdryers.

Outstanding Commitment to LEED: AMLI Residential

AMLI Residential, based in Kennesaw, Ga., is a preeminent company working to develop, acquire and manage green apartment communities. It shows a true commitment to sustainability by utilizing LEED certification as a tool for providing healthy apartment homes for residents, and its new developments in eight different markets are pursuing LEED certification. AMLI’s current portfolio includes seven certified projects, of which six were certified under the LEED for Homes rating system. AMLI anticipates the number of LEED developments in its portfolio to double this year and triple in 2015.

Outstanding Affordable Developer: Blue Sea Development Co. LLC

Since 2006, every new construction project undertaken by New York City affordable housing developer Blue Sea Development Co. has earned LEED for Homes certification, demonstrating a trajectory of continuous improvement, fearless innovation and large-scale development of certified green housing. Most recently, Blue Sea finished construction on its grandest green effort to date: Arbor House, featuring 124 affordable units, four micro combined heat and power turbines, indoor and outdoor fitness circuits for children and adults, and a 10,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse fueled by an elaborate rainwater harvesting system.

Outstanding Multifamily Project: Vulcan Real Estate, for Stack House

Situated on a full city block in the emerging South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, the Stack House project seeks to combine two new mixed-use residential projects with the restoration and adaptive reuse of the Supply Laundry Building, a historic landmark. The full block development is broken into a series of smaller, quarter-block masses more characteristic of the neighborhood. Pedestrian-oriented mews create north-south and east-west through-block connections that preserve view corridors to Seattle landmarks and guide residents and passersby into the public plaza and courtyard spaces.

Outstanding Multifamily Builder: AMLI Residential

AMLI Residential is responsible for AMLI at Escena, a wood-frame, garden-style, LEED Gold, 440-unit apartment community in Irving, Texas. The project’s efforts to reduce energy and water use and provide a healthy living space for residents has made it one of AMLI’s most successful apartment communities. The entire AMLI at Escena staff receives training so they can understand and explain the benefits of exciting features such as bioswales and fresh air ventilation to residents and neighbors.

Project of the Year: Union 4, Nakhshab Development & Design

Union 4 is a LEED Platinum multifamily development by Nakhshab Development and Design (NDD) in the Banker’s Hill neighborhood of San Diego. NDD originally intended to remove an existing dilapidated building from the site, but after researching the building’s historical significance, it decided to restore the building and make it the focal point of the project. Three additional units were added to the rear of the property, complementing the existing historic home and offering views of the San Diego harbor, open concept living space and NDD’s signature modern aesthetic. Union 4 offers four families the chance to live in a sustainably built home with a community gathering space, easy access to public transportation and local amenities as well as rooftop solar panels.

Outstanding Affordable Project: Kalos, Community HousingWorks

Kalos provides 83 vibrant new affordable workforce homes in a smart growth/sustainable setting. The LEED Platinum midrise development added density sensitively and locked in long-term affordability in a built-out, rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in San Diego. The LEED elements exceed local and national standards in energy efficiency and green construction values, with more than 50 percent reductions in water, gas and electrical use, along with car sharing and electric car charging stations. On-site tenant education spreads awareness of a healthy and sustainable lifestyle through smoke-free operations, recycling programs and promotion of alternative transportation.

To learn more about LEED for Homes, visit usgbc.org/homes. For tips on greening your home, visit GreenHomeGuide.com.