EEBA Academy

High performance zero energy homes provide many benefits including cost savings, energy resiliency, durability, comfort, and sustainable operation. While these types of homes have been built for a long time, the knowledge of how to build them has historically been kept by few. Now with increasingly stringent building codes across the U.S., driven by long-term energy policy and growing demands on the energy grid, all builders and implementers need to know how to build high performance. 

Join sonnen and EEBA for a presentation on how new smart, energy management technology is revolutionizing residential design and enabling a cleaner, more sustainable energy future. 

Many builders are attracted to the idea of building zero energy homes. However, there is an unspoken presumption that these homes really only pencil out for custom-home money-is-no-object clients or possibly, as heavily subsidized affordable home demonstration projects. In this presentation, Kevin Brozyna shares how, despite a year marked by skyrocketing materials costs and supply chain and labor shortages, this successful production builder has managed to turn a profit while sticking to their company's high zero energy performance and quality goals. Kevin is joined by Terrence Mosley of DOE and Terri Gilbride of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who will provide an overview of the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home program and share construction best practices from DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Housing Innovation Award winners in every construction category from production to custom for buyer, custom spec, multifamily, affordable, and attached.

The Ultimate Z.E.N. Home features a 7.8 kWh rooftop solar array as a standard feature to help achieve net-zero energy goals. But instead of selling surplus electricity back to the local utility as energy credits, an innovative battery storage system scaled for single-family keeps it on site.