The problem with the proverbial Home of the Future is that it's usually just that: A dreamy concept that we'll all live in some day, but that's just too expensive and, well, conceptual to be practical today.
But on Thursday, Vivint, one of the biggest names in home automation systems, and Garbett Homes, a Salt Lake City-based property developer with more than 3,500 homes to its credit, unveiled a new smart home that boasts an energy rating of net zero.
Dubbed the Zero Home, this house is so efficient that all the energy it needs is produced on site using renewable sources. This is no mere concept. The Zero Home is finished and will be on the market soon—complete with a charging station in its garage for your electric car. The kicker is that this house didn't cost a penny more to build than a conventional home would have.
"Utah is not a tree hugger state," said Garbett Homes marketing director Rene Oehlerking. "Everyone wants to go green, but no one wants to pay to go green. We're a small builder, but we're not a custom builder. Our business model is to build production homes."
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