The report going to Council says Blatchford planned to have 5% of the homes in Blatchford being net zero and that they would be exempt from having to connect to the DEC. That exemption will no longer be available as they’ve already apparently reached that limit with one of the current builders.
As I understand it there are two things happening here. A net zero home is one where it generates as much energy for the grid as it consumes from the grid. It both buys and sells that energy and actually has the potential to earn more money than it spends, not simply break even over the course of a year. The utility savings are sufficient to capitalize the additional capital costs.
Without the exemption, all homes will need to incur the additional capital costs of connecting to the DEC and meeting their standards for in-home mechanical connections and equipment. The mandate from DEC is two fold. Other than the initial capital investment, it will operate on a break even basis from the city’s perspective and costs to the homeowner will be less than the average annualized costs for homeowners elsewhere in the city. Again, as I understand it, that’s the actual cost, not the cost per unit. So even if consumption is considerably less than that of those typical homes elsewhere, Blatchford homeowners may not actually end up saving any money.
The DEC system they’re part of may be “net zero” in regard to its non-consumption off grid utilities but that won’t be the equivalent of living in a net zero home with net zero utility costs. They may well feel good about what they’re buying every month but they won’t be as well off financially as someone in a net zero home.
I’d be happy to be wrong but if I am, why would anyone choose to build or purchase a net zero home in Blatchford (because it’s economically advantageous compared to DEC?), why would the city have capped the number of them in Blatchford and why are they proceeding to enforce that number by eliminating the exemption?
