De Young Properties and energy consulting company ConSol on Wednesday announced the debut of De Young RidgeView, which it claims will be the largest grid-connected zero net energy (ZNE) single-family community to be developed in California.
De Young RidgeView, located in the Central California community of Clovis, will include 58 zero net energy homes designed with the potential to produce as much clean energy as they consume in a year. Home sales begin September 15. The development is supported by a grant from the California Energy Commission Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program and administered by the California Homebuilding Foundation (CHF) as a way to demonstrate cost effective construction of ZNE single-family homes.
RidgeView homes are available in floorplans ranging from 1,880 – 3,820 square-feet, and prices will start in the low $400,000’s. Homes will be available for purchase at a Pre-Grand Opening event at De Young’s Leonard Welcome Center in Clovis on Saturday, September 15, 2018. The first homes are scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2019.
“These homes are better for the environment and homeowners. Their design and energy efficiency features will enable homeowners to achieve extremely low energy bills and live more comfortably in their home, while reducing their carbon footprint and promoting better air quality in California,” said Brandon De Young, executive vice president of De Young Properties and president of De Young Mortgage.
The De Young RidgeView community will provide critical energy and market data that will contribute to the continued development of California’s policy and modeling software for ZNE building. This data, analysis and reporting will prove essential in assisting California homebuilders to further optimize their ZNE building science and technology ahead of the California Energy Commission’s goal for all new California homes to be ZNE.
“To reach California’s ambitious climate and energy goals, we must push past status quo thinking to get the most out of each construction investment,” said Commissioner Andrew McAllister, the Energy Commission’s lead on energy efficiency and buildings. “Research projects like De Young’s RidgeView create new possibilities for building affordable, sustainable and comfortable homes in the real world.”
Over the next few years, De Young Properties and ConSol will monitor energy usage and solar production, among other performance attributes, of the RidgeView homes. The information will be used to continue improving ZNE home designs and show regional, statewide and even national builders that ZNE homes can be constructed affordably and marketed successfully, encouraging others to follow suit.
“Although California has made tremendous progress toward broader adoption of highly efficient and ZNE homebuilding practices, we’re still not all the way there. The best way to reach the State’s goal for all new homes to be ZNE is through the deployment of full-scale ZNE subdivisions like RidgeView. By getting these technologies out of the lab and working harmoniously in the field, we’ll finally be able to understand and begin to overcome the remaining barriers to large-scale adoption of ZNE and low-carbon building,” said Garth Torvestad, senior technical consultant at ConSol.
To help energize and educate future home building leaders, California State University, Fresno in partnership with grant partners will present a ZNE symposium November 15. Additionally, the De Young RidgeView ZNE building process will be filmed to memorialize the process and provide demonstration exhibits to assist industry and collegiate curriculum.
RidgeView is the newest and largest ZNE (also known as zero energy or ZE) community by De Young Properties with (58) ZE homes, followed closely by two others located in Clovis: The Highlands by De Young (45) and EnVision (36), which welcomes its first residents this fall.
