An Environment Texas Research and Policy Center study released last week found that if 10 percent more “net-zero” houses were built each year for the next decade, and all new homes were built that way by 2020, Texans could save more than $5 billion in utility bills.

In Austin, a 40-house net-zero development is under construction about two miles from downtown. The homes are designed to be about 45 percent more energy efficient, with solar energy bringing the net use to zero. Construction of these homes costs about 15 percent more than building a traditional house, but the savings eventually make up for it.

The study estimates homes would save an average of $500 a year in energy bills, and the reduced annual emissions would be equivalent to cutting the pollution of more than three million cars in the nation’s leading greenhouse-gas producing state by 2030.

The report calls on state and federal officials to do more to make the upgrades affordable. State agencies this fall will consider increasing efficiency standards and requiring utilities to provide incentives. A bill passed in the 2009 legislative session authorizes cities to offer incentives.

Associated Press article