KB Home Opens 1st ZeroHouse 2.0 in California

December 27th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

KB Home's ZeroHouse 2.0 at Whisler Ridge in Lake Forest, California. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

An individual with the inspiration and foresight can build a net-zero home (or renovate a house to make its nets greenhouse gas emissions zero). However, for the masses, a ready product is needed to get them to that target. Luckily, such houses are beginning to pop up on the market.

KB Home, a large homebuilding company in the U.S., unveiled one of the first net-zero production homes in the country this month. Not only that, when unveiling the product, it helped to educate local area children about some of the clean home features of its product. The educational event, which included Lake Forest Mayor Peter Herzog, included games and a tour of ZeroHouse 2.0, as it is called.

As part of the event, “a ‘storm’ of money, representing the over $250 saved monthly by a ZeroHouse 2.0 as designed when compared to a typical resale home, rained down on the children.” And one year’s worth of the energy savings from this home is being donated to the local school these children come from, Serrano Intermediate School.

“The offering of the ZeroHouse 2.0 in Lake Forest continues a national rollout of the net-zero energy homes that KB Home started earlier this fall, with Orange County and homebuyers throughout Southern California now being able to choose a KB home that may eliminate their monthly electricity charges entirely,” the company notes.

“KB Home recently announced that solar power systems are now a standard feature of homes at 29 of its communities in Southern California, and it builds 100% of its new homes to the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR® qualification. All homes at Whisler Ridge include as standard a 1.8 kWp solar power system, which can reduce homeowners’ energy bills by as much as 40% compared to a typical new home built to California’s Title 24 standards. The ZeroHouse 2.0 uses additional energy-efficient features and an optional 6.75 kWp solar power system.”

Image via Business Wire

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Tags: Buildings, California, green building, houses, kb home, kb homes, Lake Foresr, net-zero house, netzero house, Whisler Ridge, ZeroHouse, ZeroHouse 2.0

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

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Electric38

1.8KW is thinking small. Electric vehicles are quickly replacing gas guzzling polluters. Build the extra KW’s in (at least 5-7KW). Solar should be federally mandated in any new construction for any commercial or residential project. The expense is much less for a solar install in a new building, than an existing one.
Fast track modulars using a tilt-up design can quickly build thousands of “super insulated” homes at a fraction of the price with a better than 0 energy cost factor. Paying $0 for fuel for the lifetime of the family vehicle is possible NOW!!