This Colorado Community Is Already Living in the All-Electric Future
With most homes today being climate liabilities, nine out of 10 U.S. housing units needing to have fossil-fueled equipment replaced with electiric in order to meet decarbonization goals, all electric neighborhoods such as Geos, are setting the example stage.
Geos, an all-electric neighborhood comprising 28 energy-efficient homes, has enough rooftop solar panels to harvest renewable energy to offset any grid usage over the year, making them net-zero homes.
According to Canary Media, Geos, whose first home was completed in 2017, is one of a small but growing number of net-zero communities popping up across the U.S.
Net-zero neighborhoods have been built, for example, in Hawaii (19-home Kaupuni Village), Utah (five-home Living Zenith) and Wisconsin (34-home Red Fox Crossing). More are on the way, with developers constructing net-zero enclaves everywhere from Michigan to North Carolina. One of the largest net-zero neighborhoods in the U.S. is unfurling in Vermont; the developer O’Brien Brothers plans to ultimately build 900 fossil-fuel-free units there. It’s finished 115 single-family homes so far.
Geos homes use a quarter of the energy of typical construction, lowering the average utility bill to just $8 a month, according to Norbert Klebl, the engineer and former partner at consultancy McKinsey & Co. who developed the Geos neighborhood.