AUSTIN, Texas–Greater Texas Credit Union partnered with Habitat for Humanity for a “Net Zero” build. Twenty-five employees, as part of the Greater Good Volunteer initiative, worked on installing siding, caulking and spackling, cleaning up window insulation and more.
As the rain came in strong, the work day was cut short, but a lot of progress was made in a few short hours, the credit union said.
Austin Habitat’s plan is to make the house so well-insulated that all the electricity required by its tenants can be supplied by the solar panels that will sit on its specially designed roof. It’s a type of building called “net zero,” because it will pull “net zero” electricity off the grid. That makes it environmentally sustainable and vastly more affordable to live in. Net-zero homes are far more expensive to build, so they’re usually available only to people with a lot of money. Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corp. (GNDC) is the housing nonprofit that owns this development. With help from the city, Habitat for Humanity and others, this group is making 60 net-zero homes available to longtime East Austinites who might otherwise be pushed out by gentrification, according to the organization.