Florida Real Estate Developer Creates First Single Family Home to Receive LEED Zero Certification

(Pearl Homes’ Hunters Point Net-Zero Energy home using the sonnen intelligent energy management system. Credit: sonnen)

Pearl Homes, a developer of sustainable smart home communities and a LEED-certified residential developer, recently announced that it has fulfilled the requirements of LEED Zero Energy, as verified by Green Business Certification Inc., for its Hunters Point resort unit in Florida.

The Pearl Home is the first single-family home in the world to receive the LEED Zero Certification. The Pearl Homes team was recognized for this milestone at the 2019 Greenbuild Conference in Chicago and presented with a certificate from Mahesh Ramanujam, President & CEO of the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED Zero Energy recognizes buildings or spaces that achieve a source energy use balance of zero over a period of 12 months. The Hunters Point Model Home is a cleaner, healthier, smart home equipped with the latest in sustainability, smart home and high-efficiency technologies including Google Home Smart Speaker and Home Assistant, rooftop solar arrays paired with a sonnen intelligent residential energy management system, Energy Star Appliances, and WaterSense high-efficiency fixtures and Hunter Smart Irrigation. sonnen’s Energy Automation technology allows for efficient management of energy to power the home’s connected devices with cleaner energy and provides smarter backup power functionality both before and during a grid outage.

As part of its continued commitment as a pioneer and leader in sustainable home design, Pearl Homes also announced plans to certify all future projects under USGBC’s recently-announced LEED Positive vision, one that encourages development to allow buildings to act as vehicles for environmental restoration and repair. Pearl Homes will adhere to these standards for all future projects in its pipeline, including the 280-home Hunters Point Resort in Cortez, FL and the 720-unit OurLives community in Ellenton, FL, as well as a number of unannounced projects in other parts of the United States.

In August, it was reported that green, LEED-certified homes are at an all-time high, with nearly 500,000 single- and multi-family units being certified around the world and more than 400,000 in the US; the prevalence of LEED-certified homes has grown 19% since 2007, USGBC says in a report focusing on residential projects.

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