Is Alternative Energy Gaining Ground with Home Builders?

Nearly a quarter of single-family builders installed energy-producing equipment such as geothermal heat pumps and photovoltaics in new construction projects last year, according to NAHB.

Will alternative energy sources such as geothermal heat pumps and photovoltaic (PV) panels become standard offerings on new homes in the future? Just under a quarter of the market is already bringing this to market, according to a survey of single-family builders collected by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in November 2013. According to the NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog, the survey found that nearly a quarter of surveyed builders installed alternative energy-producing equipment on new construction projects last year, with 82 percent of respondents reporting that they had installed geothermal heat pumps and 26 percent reporting that they had installed PV panels. An additional swath of builders is also providing homes that are power-production ready: nearly 18 percent of the survey’s respondents said that while they did not install power production on their projects in 2013, they did build infrastructure that would allow homeowners to install the equipment in the future.