Net Zero Energy Microhomes

GS Research LLC

Net Zero Energy Microhomes

AFFORDABLE NET ZERO NOW: No-permit-required fire-resistant 120sf Net Zero Energy microhome costs $25,000 DIY or $50,000 contractor-built

HQ: Bay St Louis, Mississippi CA: Chico, CA

United States

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

California, the world’s fifth largest economy, is at the bleeding edge of many of the nation’s most pressing challenges. The $861,000 median home price is unaffordable for most, with a 100,000 unit/year new home shortfall. The recent LA wildfires destroyed 16,000 structures while Paradise still rebuilds after the 18,000 lost in 2018. 187,000 homeless citizens vie for 4000 “emergency sleeping cabins” per year funded under a state contract. California leads in solar adoption, but grid instability threatens everyday life with blackouts, brownouts, and more fire risk. Success in the clean energy transition, wildfire resilience AND housing affordability simultaneously at scale requires unique innovative solutions. Creating Net Zero Energy home ownership and/or affordability for the lowest third of incomes is a strong challenge for technical innovation. Success in meeting this challenge in California leads to success in Massachusetts, New York, and the rest of the nation. Success in sustaining democracy and national security in the broadest sense can be served in getting this right. US leadership in affordable sustainable living shows the rest of the world how they can find similar paths to context-adaptive solutions.

Innovative R7 windows in equally innovative R30 walls make for 120sf no-permit-required Net Zero Energy fire-resistant low-embodied-energy microhomes at a $25,000 DIY cost and $50,000 contractor-built price. AFFORDABLE NET ZERO NOW! California is already incentivizing Accessory Dwelling Units in both individual backyard and community settings. Over half of new California housing starts are ADUs with a global 18.6% Compound Annual Growth Rate trending. Net Zero Energy ADUs qualify for a $5000 Federal Energy Efficient Home Credit for the builder and a $2500 Residential Solar Credit for the homeowner through 2032. By comparison, the Cosmic One Net Zero Energy ADU currently costs $287,000 for a 380sf studio. Our pricing for equivalent square footage would come with lots of room to upgrade finishes at $100,000 less cost.

In the California beachhead market, there are 6.88 million back yards potentially available for Net Zero Energy microhomes & ADUs. The nation has 82 million backyards. Whole communities of microhomes can be built in infill or greenfield development settings at single-story net density of more than 50 units per acre. The whole of society is served: • Disadvantaged Communities benefit from local jobs assembling windows and building microhomes that serve their communities in homelessness prevention and affordable housing. • Existing homeowners at all income levels can add equity, potential household income from rental of an affordable ADU, and/or household flexibility adding a space where family (or extended family) live, or the home workshop, studio, or office. • Some backyards and budgets will accommodate more than one microhome, or larger ADU. Urban infrastructure is more efficiently used, increasing effective density without massiveness or deforestation. • Growth is accommodated without sprawl and outward expansion of the grid and other infrastructure. Net Zero Energy Time-of-Day performance adds to grid stability making effective use of daytime solar with battery and thermal storage in a super-insulated envelope. • The Net Zero Energy ‘finite elements’ can also be used in hotels, resorts, remote offices, disaster relief, and fast, early reconstruction.