Road to 1000 MW: Church Community net-zero home

The  Church Community Housing Corporation (CCHC) is dedicated to helping low and moderate income people in Newport County to live in safe, decent, affordable housing and neighborhoods. The  organization provides housing through rental, home ownership, rehabilitation, preservation and other means.

CCHC built a single-family house in  Tiverton, Rhode Island, that looks and functions like a conventional home, but produces enough electricity to offset its entire electrical consumption over the course of a year. This is known as a "net-zero" building.

Christian Belden, senior project manager of CCHC, took advantage of a Renewable Energy Fund grant, provided by Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, to help pay for the project. 
The home features:

• Extra insulation in the roof, walls and basement.
• Electric air source heat pumps for heating and cooling.
• Electric air source heat pump hot water heater.
• 9 kW solar system on south-facing roof.

As a result, the house is estimated to produce 2 percent more electricity than it uses, saving the occupants about $3,200 per year and reducing CO2 emissions by 26 tons.

In March, Governor Raimondo announced an ambitious goal to add 1,000 megawatts of clean energy and 20,000 clean energy jobs to Rhode Island by the end of 2020. CCHC's net-zero home is just one example of the types of projects that are contributing to this goal.