LifeStyle Homes constructs the Space Coast’s First U.S. Department of Energy “Zero Energy Ready Home”
LifeStyle Homes is proud to join the ranks of the nation’s leading builders who have risen to the latest building challenge set forth by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The local homebuilder recently wrapped construction on the Space Coast’s first “DOE Zero Energy Ready Home” in the Pineda Springs subdivision of Melbourne.
This remarkable home represents a whole new level of high-performance home building, and is designed and crafted to last hundreds of years. Homes built in accordance to the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home program raise the bar to the nation’s highest levels of energy savings, comfort, health, and durability.
In order to earn DOE Zero Energy Ready certification, the LifeStyle team worked closely with the building scientists at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa for months to determine how to best achieve the program’s stringent requirements.
“The result is a home that LifeStyle is extremely proud of, and one like no other in Brevard County,” says Karen Kicinski, marketing director at LifeStyle
Homes. “It adheres to numerous checkpoints to ensure superior levels of building products and practices.” This encompasses everything from EnergyStar® appliances, to high-efficiency windows, air conditioning, insulation, water management, indoor air quality, and much more.
Pushing this home even further in terms of energy-efficiency, LifeStyle Homes included an advanced 6.84 KW solar system on the home’s rooftop. This solar system allows the home’s future owners to harness the power of the sun and convert it to clean energy to offset most of, if not all, of the home’s energy consumption. That said, the future owners of this home can expect a near $0 electric bill over a year’s time.
Even more notable, the solar energy produced by the home’s solar system also has the capacity to charge an electric vehicle (EV). LifeStyle Homes demonstrates this fact by plugging its corporate electric vehicle, a Tesla Model S, into the garage of the home. The vehicle’s battery is then powered up by excess energy produced by the home’s solar system.
“In other words, not only can this home rid its future owners of household electricity bills, but gasoline expenses as well, using only clean energy generated by the sun,” says Kicinski.
“There are a limited number of homes built to this caliber of energy-efficiency in the United States, so we are very gratified to have built the first one of its kind on the Space Coast, helping to keep our hometown on the cutting-edge of innovation.” b
To view this home firsthand, please stop by LifeStyle Homes’ Pineda Springs model home at 2800 Jolena Drive, Melbourne. Or call (321) 722-1124 to schedule a private tour.
