Imagine opening your mailbox and never seeing another electric bill. This may seem like a dream for the future, but with today’s technology it’s actually possible to build houses that produce as much power as they generate. “Net-zero” homes have made headlines here and there, but at such high prices they are more of a novelty than an option for today’s house hunters. One company, however, set out to change that, and succeeded. Such homes are available—with people living in them right now— at an affordable market price.
Homebuilder Nexus EnergyHomes has done some innovative work in historic downtown Frederick, Md. The company’s 2,000-sq ft, single-family dwellings in the 55-lot North Pointe GeoSolar Community are the first of their kind. These EnergyHomes sport features including a PV solar array, geothermal heating and cooling, energy recovery ventilation, LED and CFL lights, Energy Star Appliances, windows with high-performance low-E glass and structurally insulated panels. Such energy-efficient options can be found in similar home designs but with significantly higher price tags.
“Anyone can spend a million dollars and create a net-zero home,” says Mike Murphy, construction division president for Nexus. “But to do it at market price was quite a feat.”
Murphy says from the beginning he and Nexus EnergyHomes President Paul Zanecki were determined to find a formula to balance energy efficiency and cost.
“We knew that in this economy, there was a demand for an affordable net-zero home,” Murphy says. “Our goal was to offer these homes to the masses, to change the way homes are built in this country.”
But finding the right recipe wasn’t easy. The team spent several years working with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) with funding from Building America, a Department of Energy sponsored program.
“It was more than adding some insulation and slapping on solar,” Murphy says. “We researched every piece of the home design right down to the screws, drywall and paint. We took a holistic approach, peeling back the skin and looking inside to see all the parts and how they work together harmoniously.”
Murphy admits researching and testing was a challenge, but didn’t find it a chore. He viewed the scrapping, putting back together, and going back to the drawing board as fun. The real challenge, he says, was working with architectural designs that had already been approved by the local historic preservation committee. Obviously, historic houses don’t usually host solar, but the parties compromised on aesthetically-pleasing Schüco panels—the sleek, black modules hide well against charcoal shingles. The homes were actually the first historic buildings in the country to have solar approved on the front and side of their roofs.
Another challenge Murphy encountered was getting the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) contractor to understand the design. He says the contractor had to practically throw his way of looking at a home out the window and work with a design that hadn’t been developed yet. But again, the NAHB intervened to help with the analytics of Nexus’ plan. Zanecki agrees the process was challenging, but worth it.
“The approval process is never fun,” he says, “but the city itself and all government leaders could not possibly have been more supportive. Their desire to get this up and going helped us move along.”
All the hard work paid off when the company finally broke ground in January 2011 and opened sales in the summer of 2011. The final models run for a mere $285,000-$320,000, considered affordable for the Washington D.C. area.
The home maintains traditional architecture but inside it’s strikingly sophisticated. Humidity is monitored and kept at comfortable levels year-round, along with a constant temperature across four floors. Mold spores, mildew, and animal dander are filtered through a whole house HEPA filtration system to ensure the highest quality indoor air—a godsend for those who suffer from allergies. Such features have made homeowner response overwhelmingly positive.
“People enjoy a sense of luxury and livability,” Zanecki says. “The home is well-crafted and solid. For example, 7-in. walls provide peace and silence on one of the busiest streets in the city.”
Murphy says the neighborhood has come around full circle from the former remnants of a HUD revitalization project that reached a standstill with the recession.
The homes have attracted national attention with their EVHA 2012 Builder of the Year win, as well as the EVHA New Homes Gold Award for Production in Moderate Climate.
But even with the great success the company has already experienced, Murphy and Zanecki say it’s just the beginning. For them, the question is always how to continually innovate.
“I want to make homes that are better in every way—integrating all the best performing technologies under one roof,” Zanecki says. “Until that vision is realized, I keep pushing.”
Even from home to home within the North Pointe Community, features have changed as technology progresses. Murphy says he wants to ensure Nexus’ homeowners are offered the most current, cutting-edge technologies available. Of course, price is also a concern, but he is thankful for falling solar prices, large quantity discounts and home-system financial incentives that lower costs for homeowners.
“Initially, our homes might be 7 percent more expensive than conventional homes, but the overall cost of homeownership is much less,” he says.
Financial incentives beyond the reduction or elimination of power bills can include county incentives, Maryland state grants, and federal tax credits, and the utility savings alone will immediately outweigh the slight increase in mortgage payments.
Another area that will continually see innovation is with the company’s NexusVision Smart System, a web-based tool that tracks home energy production and consumption. Homeowners can adjust climate controls, switch lights on or off, and control their security system from any computer or even their smart phones. In the future, this system may practically allow your home to talk to you, letting you know you left the door open or it’s time to change a filter.
The idea of a futuristic “smart house” is cool, but Zanecki says the system’s real value is allowing homeowners to easily monitor their energy use. Nexus builds the home so that it is capable of achieving net-zero, but it’s up to the homeowner to maintain it.
“If little Johnny is upstairs with five TVs, his stereo, phone charger and Xbox, and the home is using more power than it’s producing, NexusVision will show it,” Zanecki says. “It’s a measuring tool that we hope will help people become increasingly aware of how much energy they’re using, and learn from it.”
More people will be able to use such tools in their own net-zero home as the company takes their models elsewhere—they’ll need to, as North Pointe is averaging selling a home a week. Of course, Nexus will have to adjust their recipe for hot South Carolina summers and the area’s $250,000 to $260,000 market. Sites in Philadelphia must also be fitted for cold winters. It’s a lot of work, but Murphy says he loves it.
“Paul and I have a passion for this and it’s not even a job for us, just a fun journey and something we love to do,” he says.
Zanecki says he hopes the homes will offer freedom from rising energy costs, projected electric shortages, and reliance on foreign fossil fuels. He projects a strong 2012 and beyond for Nexus.
“It’s not hard to understand why we are succeeding in a market where other builders are struggling to make sales,” he says. “When you can buy a new home with the highest green-building technology and certifications combined with a modern layout and amenities, all for the same price of traditional homes, why would you choose anything else?”
To learn more about Nexus EnergyHomes, neighborhoods and communities, or Nexus custom homes, call 410.604.2870 or visit www.nexusenergyhomes.com. SPW
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