< 5 lessons from a house that generates more energy than it uses

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A house that produces more energy than it uses sounds appealing, especially as utility bills rise. In Southern California, one such house has been around for more than a decade. It's in Hermosa Beach. NPR's Jeff Brady takes us along for a visit to the Green Idea House.

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JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: From the street, Robert Fortunato's three-story modern house with brown siding fits in with the neighborhood of expensive homes facing the Pacific Ocean. To learn how it's different, you have to go inside.

ROBERT FORTUNATO: You're in the Green Idea House. It's one of the first net-zero energy, zero-carbon case study houses that was built for less cost than standard construction.

BRADY: Fortunato remodeled a smaller 1959 house to make it a showcase for energy efficiency. That's a luxury most Americans don't have, and the Trump administration is eliminating incentives that reduces the cost. Still, there are some lessons from this Green Idea House. For example, Fortunato saved money by eliminating natural gas service. There was no need to install new gas lines throughout the house. It's well-insulated and designed to stay cool without air conditioning. That saved money on installation, too. One of his primary goals was reducing fossil fuel burning, which contributes to a hotter climate.

FORTUNATO: So I'm just opening the access to the roof area, and we're just going to go up and see the solar panels.

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BRADY: There are 26 panels generating all the electricity the house uses, plus enough for two electric cars.

FORTUNATO: And so we really haven't had an electric bill or a gas bill in the last 13 years.

BRADY: He did pay $18,000 upfront to install the panels. Fortunato says with utility bills savings, he broke even in four years. Because his roof is flat, you can't see the panels from the street. The roof also has a five-foot overhang on the front. That saves energy by shading the house in the summer.

FORTUNATO: And then in the wintertime, the sun rises low in the sky across the horizon, and the sun goes into the windows and actually heats up the house for free.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah, it's all wiring.

BRADY: Building a house like this requires a lot of research and planning that many Americans may not have the time and energy for. Still, Fortunato says it makes sense to constantly remind contractors and suppliers to stick to your goals. For example, he picked the brown metal siding because it was made in a nearby factory in Fontana, California. Fortunato wanted to avoid burning fossil fuels to have it delivered across the country. But when he switched to a slightly different color, the salesperson didn't mention that shade was made somewhere else.

FORTUNATO: Then he said, well, no, you ordered a color brown that only Texas makes. And then I said, well, what color comes out of Fontana? And it was very similar, and we said, let's go with that color. It's...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Laughter).

BRADY: That focus on saving energy helped Fortunato identify efficiencies in unexpected places.

FORTUNATO: For example, this garage door opener replaced an old garage door opener that used 15 watts just sitting there continuously.

BRADY: Waiting to sense when someone pushed the button. The new one uses one-fifth the electricity. It's not a big savings, but it's important to Fortunato. Chris Magwood wrote a book for homeowners who want a more efficient home. He says it's important to question motives to make sure a goal is actually accomplished.

CHRIS MAGWOOD: Having me as a consultant is like having that annoying 2-year-old in your house 'cause I just go, why? Like, why a solar house?

BRADY: Magwood works at the clean energy nonprofit group Rocky Mountain Institute and says if the environment is the answer, rooftop solar panels might make sense for homeowners in a state that burns a lot of coal for electricity but may not make sense in a state that gets most of its power from cleaner sources. Magwood says building or remodeling a more efficient home takes a lot of time and dedication. It's getting easier, he says, with certification programs like Energy Star to ensure contractors and manufacturers meet efficiency standards. Magwood says if you're lucky, you might even find a local builder who has the same goals you do.

MAGWOOD: Or it might be you're the one tugging on your builder's sleeve, you know, all the time, like, hey, like, what about this? What about that? What about the other thing?

BRADY: In Hermosa Beach, Fortunato had no problem tugging on people's sleeves to get the house his family wanted. Now, with those solar panels paid for, he estimates they save about $400 every month in utility and gasoline costs.

Jeff Brady, NPR News, Hermosa Beach, California.

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