It's every Philadelphian's dream: utility companies that pay you for service rather than forcing you to drop four figures on heating every winter. Nexus EnergyHomes actually makes that possible. The builder broke ground yesterday on Foundry Court at Fourth and Brown, where five net-zero capable homes will sprout up soon.
Owners of the five homes can use Nexus' monitoring system to measure their usage against an electric company's, for instance, earning small payments from the utilities to the residents that produce more energy than they use. Homeowners in a Nexus community in Maryland have gotten their monthly bills down to five or 10 cents.
At the groundbreaking, Nexus' president and CEO got positively carried away: "The air you breathe will be the cleanest air you can find on the face of the Earth inside with a street 10 feet away," he told the crowd, which included City Council president Darrell Clarke.
Clarke offered words of deep, abiding truth when—after reminding everyone that Council once put a proposal out for similar sustainable home development—he added, "Sometimes we end up talking too much and not doing."
The three-bedroom, three-bath homes with garage start at $799,000, come with $20,000 in tax credits and the usual 10-year tax abatement.
· Groundbreaking for Philly's First Net-Zero Capable Homes [CPHI]