KB Home is rolling out net-zero energy homes that the homebuilder says may eliminate owners’ electricity charges entirely.
The first ZeroHouse 2.0 model homes will include solar power systems alongside building techniques and features that enhance efficiency well beyond KB Home’s Energy Star-qualified standard, KB says. The model homes feature increased insulation, upgraded HVAC systems and dual-pane, low-e windows.
ZeroHouse 2.0 models are opening this week in Tampa, San Antonio and Austin, and homebuyers in these markets will now be able to incorporate ZeroHouse 2.0 energy efficiency options into their purchases, KB says. The national rollout of ZeroHouse 2.0 to more KB Home communities will continue through 2012, the company says.
KB Home unveiled the KB Home GreenHouse, a prototype net-zero energy home near Orlando, Fla., in January. It billed the LEED platinum model house as “an idea home created with Martha Stewart”.
At the time KB said it will offer houses with some but not all of the prototype’s environmental features, priced in the low-to-mid $200,000s, in a new “Martha Community” near Orlando next spring.
In its 2010 sustainability report, KB Homes said it is set to achieve a goal of building a net-zero energy concept home in each of its divisions this year. The company also said it is “well on its way” to improving the energy efficiency of its average home by ten percent this year.
Calvert Investments ranked KB Home as the greenest of the ten largest listed homebuilders in the U.S. (scroll down article).