A for-profit builder built a home for $200,000 that uses zero energy. That’s some sweet energy saving action. I thought those types of homes would have cost several times that amount and while this one is 1650 sq feet, that’s still a good deal. The house actually needs to borrow some energy from the power grid, but it can return power to the grid for credit at other times, so it’s overall net use is zero (or below). The house was built in September of 2005 and so far it’s living up to its claim.

We just got our power bill and after picking myself up off the floor, I was interested in hearing how to retrofit an existing home to use zero energy. Or perhaps there are some unobtrusive ways of reducing power consumption (Note: living in complete darkness would be considered obtrusive).

Read the entire article for all the details.