EEBA Academy

Zer0 Place is a net-zero, mixed-use development with 46 residential units, including affordable and accessible units, as well as retail space. Designed to provide a community of “zero energy living,” this NY State Building of Excellence award winner is intended to meet LEED, DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, EPA Indoor airPlus, and Energy Star requirements and will deliver zero energy bills for residents.

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.

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. 

This panel will introduce the EEBA / ProBuilder Ultimate ZEN All Electric Home and discuss its key features, the hurdles encountered, and key points of buyer acceptance. This will lead into a discussion on what is next in high performance building, ways to get there, and an example of one unique builder and energy rater partnership designed to take on the question of "What's next and how do we get there?"