KB Home Opens 1st ZeroHouse 2.0 in California

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