Homebuilders offering self-sufficient, sustainable homes

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A Shea home at Trilogy in the Vistancia housing community, 27980 North Trilogy Boulevard, Peoria.

Homebuilders are trying to capitalize on public angst toward electric utilities by offering "net-zero, no-electric-bill homes" that promise to wipe out monthly bills, but the details are a little more complicated.

The homes are built with energy-conserving appliances and insulation, and they use solar panels to generate electricity.

The homes still are connected to the utility grid to get power after dark, but the solar arrays are designed to produce enough electricity throughout the year to balance out what customers will buy from their utility, making their "net" energy costs zero for the year.

The latest company to offer net-zero houses is Shea Homes, which is offering the energy features as standard at its active-adult communities of Vistancia in Peoria and Encanterra in the San Tan Valley area through its SheaXero program.

The program also is available in all Shea Active Lifestyle and Trilogy communities in California, Florida, Nevada and Washington.

Shea markets the project as "the no-electric-bill home."

Utilities however, still charge a basic service fee to be connected to the grid. For Arizona Public Service Co. customers, that comes out to about $8.55 a month, or more than $100 a year. Salt River Project customers pay at least $180 a year in basic service charges even if they offset all their electricity usage with solar power.

The basic-service charges can be higher depending on the rate plan.

Net-zero homeowners still could end up paying for at least a little electricity, especially in summer when air-conditioners run often. But the homes are built to generate excess electricity in the other months, which the utilities credit on their next bill.

The Shea net-zero homes start at less than $180,000 with the energy features included, and they are priced as high as $700,000.

The company raised its prices about $5,000 on every home from Seattle to Florida to pay for the features, said Rick Andreen, president of Shea Homes Active Lifestyle Communities.

Shea first offered net-zero homes in 1999 in a San Diego development and six years ago began offering small solar arrays as a standard feature in its adult communities, but this is the first time the features have been standard, rather than an option, he said.

About 90 percent of the company's floor plans can now be made net zero, Andreen said.

Each home will get a custom solar array designed to replace all of the electricity the home will use in a year, except in Florida, where utility restrictions limit to 90 percent the amount of energy a home can offset.

"It's no secret, if you asked our consumers what is your favorite big corporation, they are probably not going to list a large public utility," Andreen said. "It is a little like Big Oil. You are trapped. You have to buy gas. It is something we live with. When the price (of electricity) goes up, people don't appreciate it. There is a certain freedom in saying no, you don't have to buy it. That is the emotion we are tapping into with this."

The company has found through market research that the customers most interested in energy-efficient homes are empty nesters looking to stabilize their monthly finances, and those attracted to the "soft" benefits, like leaving the world a better place for their children and grandchildren, he said.

Read more: http://www.azcentral...l#ixzz1oDD2BI9J

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Well I just brought a lot of solar panels into the Phoenix area recently. Strange how you see none to little wind turbines in the whole state but every state surrounding it does.