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The Economics of Zero-Energy Homes
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Why It Matters
Building new single-family homes to ZE or ZER design standards represents a massive opportunity to address the carbon footprint of our building stock while providing value to homeowners, communities, and other stakeholder groups. Yet, ZE and ZER homes currently make up less than 2% of residential new construction, largely due to outdated or overstated cost assumptions. Because single family homes make up over 40% of the energy consumed by our building stock, increasing market penetration of ZE homes is essential to helping cities meet their aggressive greenhouse gas emission goals while creating a more clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future.
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