De Young unveils zero net energy home

Source: The Business Journal
Written by Ben Keller,

The Business Journal Fresno homebuilder De Young Properties today unveiled the first of what it hopes to be many zero net energy homes designed to produce as much or more power than they consume each year. Located at DeYoung's CountryCourt welcome center at Gettysburg and Armstrong avenues in Clovis, the 2,064 square-foot home is part of the company's support of California's Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan requiring all new homes to be built to zero net energy standards by 2020. The company partnered with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to find ways of getting the home down to one-third of the energy needed for a house built to minimum code. "We're really excited to work together to reach the goal of building zero net energy as a standard by 2020," said Brandon De Young, vice president of De Young Properties. Besides solar panels installed by SolarCity, the home is fixed with several other energy-saving features like LED (light-emitting diode) lights, cool roof tiles, dual-paned, argon gas-filled windows and a home energy management system that relates energy production and usage by the minute. Also, a custom designed duct system is buried underneath the attic insulation so air is not passing through a warm environment before being cooled. Also, a Rheem Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater harvests heat from the surrounding air to heat water rather than using gas or electricity. In addition, the home is equipped with an electric vehicle charging station, a two-stage, 95-percent efficient furnace from Lennox and an air conditioner rated at a high 19 SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) and 14 EER (energy efficiency ratio). Pacific Gas & Electric Co. provided much of the design and technical assistance as well as some funding in order to build the home. Brandon De Young said PG&E will stay on board to help track the home's energy usage for the next several years, imitating a family's normal living habits in order to determine how future homes should be built to zero net standards. "It really takes a full year's window of data to really know how it's performing," De Young said. "Once we get a good idea of how this one's performing and the different things we did in this one, then we'll be able to adjust and continue on to the next steps." De Young said the zero net energy home will serve as a model for De Young Property's nearby Countryview and CountrySide communities in Clovis as well as its Loma Vista community debuting soon at Sierra and Temperance avenues. Typical homes place around 100 on the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) measuring potential energy consumption over a year. A zero net energy home achieves zero on the HERS scale.

URL to original article: http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/news/energy-and-environment/9654-de-young-unveils-zero-net-energy-home

For further information on Fresno Real Estate check: http://www.londonproperties.com