Photo credit: Mike Hathorne
Earlier this year, Utah Clean Energy launched a new project to reduce the emissions produced by our homes and buildings. We collaborated with three local home builders — Garbett Homes, Ivory Homes, and Sego Homes — to build homes showcasing the country’s highest standards for energy efficiency.
As a result, each builder produced a showcase home that meets the requirements of one of two advanced home certification programs: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Homes program or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR NextGen program. The quality of homes certified to these standards is unmistakable, creating homes that are at least 40% more energy efficient than traditional new homes in Utah.
In addition to these three single-family showcase homes, eight developers are receiving technical and design assistance to adapt home plans to meet energy efficient standards. These adaptations have the potential to transform hundreds of housing units into emission-free homes over the next couple of years! Along with Garbett Homes and Sego Homes, the builders receiving technical and design assistance include The Other Side Village, Arive Homes, C.W. Urban, J Development, Après Build, and Lincoln View, LLC.
This feat would not have been possible without the core support from the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, with additional support from the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and technical assistance provided by our partners at Resource Innovations. We’re grateful to our partners for sharing our vision for a more sustainable, forward-thinking and zero emission housing market in Utah. By working together and learning from what we’ve accomplished, we’re one step closer to making that vision a reality!
Why Emission-free Homes?
“Area sources” of air pollution, which include emissions from Utah’s homes and buildings, are poised to surpass the transportation sector as the leading source of Utah’s local air emissions. Globally, homes and buildings are responsible for over 40% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to Architecture 2030. This underlines the importance of building new homes to more efficient standards and transitioning away from gas combustion in our homes.
The good news is that emission-free appliances for cooking, space heating and cooling, water heating, and clothes drying are readily available today and work well in Utah’s climate. These technologies are becoming more common across Utah and are cost comparable with their combustion alternatives. Builders are also now able to access guidance from the U.S. Department of Energy provided in the new National Definition of a Zero Emissions Building. This guidance was informed by feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders, and will aid the nationwide transition to emission-free homes.
The Showcase Homes
Sego Home’s “The Legacy”
Sego Homes built their showcase home, “The Legacy,” as part of a model village at Daybreak that was featured in the Salt Lake Valley Parade of Homes in August 2024. The Legacy goes above and beyond with its commitment to energy efficiency, meeting both the ENERGY STAR NextGen and Zero Energy Ready Home standards. This home is also prepped with wiring to support solar installation and electric vehicle charging, meaning it’s one step away from meeting the DOE’s definition for a zero emissions home.
Sego Homes has dedicated themselves to building healthy, green, and smart for their customers. This means building homes that are healthier for families and the environment, complete with enhanced air filtration systems, Indoor AirPlus certifications, and the latest smart home technologies. It also means making sure that families benefit from homes with reduced heating and cooling costs. Going forward from this project, Sego plans to continue going above and beyond by offering zero energy ready and zero energy packages as options for their customers.
Ivory Homes “Tahoma European”
Ivory Home’s showcase home, the “Tahoma European,” was also featured in the Salt Lake Valley Parade of Homes as a part of Daybreak’s model village. Built to ENERGY STAR NextGen standards, this home flaunts a tight building envelope, an EV-ready outlet, induction cooking, and all-electric appliances.
As one of Utah’s best-known and largest home builders, Ivory Homes is a staple in Utah’s housing market. Being a developer that values their customers and partnerships, they took this initiative as an opportunity to step into the all-electric space and experiment with what’s possible in the world of low emission builds.
Garbett Home’s “McEwen Model at Bishops Place”
Garbett Home’s showcase, the “McEwen Model at Bishops Place,” meets Zero Energy Ready Home standards as a 2-story townhome in Salt Lake City’s Marmalade District. Available as a model home for public touring, the McEwen also boasts a solar-ready, EV-ready, and all-electric design.
Garbett Homes has been building to the Zero Energy Ready Homes standard for years without experiencing profit losses. They’ve been a leader in the building industry when it comes to sustainability, and their townhomes at Bishops Place demonstrate how close they are to reaching a true zero emission designation for their homes. In fact, if the McEwen model had solar installed on site, it would already meet the DOE’s definition for a zero emissions home.
The Impact
Each of the three showcase homes involved in this initiative provides tremendous learning potential for people in the industry. Home buyers, real estate agents, architects, and other developers visiting these homes get to see that all-electric buildings and appliances (like heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and induction cooking) can perform even better than their standard counterparts. Excluding natural gas appliances goes beyond even the energy and utility bill savings; it leads to an improved quality of life and health for the families who one day own these homes.
We still have a long way to go in raising the standard for Utah’s housing market, but this project shows us that it’s possible. By continuing to engage builders and industry members in meaningful collaboration, we can tackle the barriers that exist to building zero emission homes. It only gets better from here!
We would like to clarify that Utah Clean Energy is not a solar company. We are a nonprofit organization that advocates for solar and other clean energy technologies, but we do not install or sell solar in any way.