Nov
3
‘Net-Zero’ Home to Feature Solar Panels, $0 Electric Bills
Pre-fab homes and tract housing aren’t typically associated with green living.
But as more buyers become attuned to high energy costs, homebuilders appear more willing to market homes that consume less power, water and other resources.
On Earth Day Friday, for example, Meritage Homes plans to make its “net-zero” home available to buyers in select markets in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and central Texas.
Already, Meritage has unveiled an Arizona housing development where the homes require 80 percent less power than the national average. Net-zero homes, by contrast, generate as much electricity as they consume.
Each home will feature a small solar energy system consisting of nine solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. For a $10,000 upgrade, buyers can add 24 additional panels for a system that could cut electric bills to zero.
The wattage of the panels Meritage plans to use is not known. But I’d guess the standard solar home energy system will be around 1.9 kilowatts (kW) DC, while the primo upgrade system will be around 6.8 kW DC. It’s also not clear whether all the homes will be truly net zero — or whether the homes will simply consume far less energy than typical buildings.
Wendy Kock of USA Today relays a few comments from Bruce Ploeser, who, along with his family of six, will soon move into Meritage’s first net-zero house in the Verrado community in Buckeye, Arizona.
“It’s beautiful,” says Ploeser of the five-bedroom, 3,400-square-foot, $326,000 home. He likes watching its meter, which often shows that the 25 photovoltaic panels are sending a surplus of energy back to the grid. “I’m just amazed,” he says, “that it’s running backward.”
Meritage is of course not the only U.S. homebuilder looking to expand its offering of energy-efficient and solar-powered homes. KB Home and SunPower have teamed up to bring solar homes to southern California. Pulte Homes has solar-powered homes on offer in parts of Arizona. And Dow Chemical continues to make progress on its net-zero home in Michigan.
Photo courtesy of Meritage Homes.
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