Half a dozen California cities are hosting enough net-zero homes to place the state in first place nationally among other states like Arizona where the net-zero trend is catching on rapidly, both among legislators and among leading homebuilders. This trend is expected to accelerate markedly over the coming decade, as the cost of adding net-zero features, including solar, drops by 50%.
California can stand up against whatever flavor of the year Washington, D.C., tries to impose on the rest on the country. As the world’s 5th largest economy, it continues to push for renewable energy and electric vehicles despite an unruly political landscape that has slowed down cleaning up our pollution. Once more, California has forged ahead, with the latest news being that it is requiring most new homes to be solar energy ready.
DALLAS, Feb. 1, 2018 — Parks Associates announced today that executives from ChargePoint, Itron, Meritage Homes, Southern Company, and Vivint Solar will be the keynote speakers at the 9th annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, February 19-21 in Austin, Texas. The conference examines the changing role of utilities and energy providers and new opportunities to empower consumers with … [continued]
Originally published on Solar Love SunEdison has revealed that it will be providing advanced energy storage systems to a net-zero pilot project in California. SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy development company, announced last week that it will be supplying advanced battery systems to a net-zero energy homes pilot project … [continued]
Home builder Meritage Homes has announced the development of the state’s first zero net energy community in Fontana, California.
The White House video above doesn’t note that President Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House decades ago that were later removed by the Reagan administration, but I guess they didn’t want to get too political with that. It is nice that the Obama administration finally got solar … [continued]
Originally published on the ECOreport SunPower Corp recently announced a three-year agreement to install solar panels at Meritage Homes’ communities nationwide. Meritage Homes Vice President of Environmental Affairs C.R. Herro said the deal could involve thousands of homes. Meritage built 4,238 homes in 2012 and Herro said it is currently building … [continued]
A Khosla-backed startup called EchoFirst has developed “Echo solar power systems” that combine solar PV with solar thermal technology. The solar thermal technology captures the heat from the solar PV panels. The heat is then used for heating water or for thermal energy for home heating and cooling. Echo … [continued]
Well, this is outside the realm of what I normally cover, but this is pretty cool. A commercial home builder, Meritage Homes, has started offering net-zero, super-green homes. With a starting price of $140,000 and incomparable electric bills, these are affordable and green. With solar panels as part of the package, you don’t even have to go through the simple trouble of finding an installer and getting solar added — probably the biggest obstacle to people going solar.
