Austin’s city council will create and appoint a “zero-energy” task force on Aug. 10, piloted through the Green Building Program of Austin Energy, the city-owned utility company. The task force will study the pros and cons of adopting building code changes requiring all new single-family homes in Austin to be “zero-energy capable” by 2015.

A zero-energy capable home, which is efficiently able to power itself with on-site energy generation, is approximately 60 percent more efficient than homes built to current code, according to the utility company.

Along with representatives of the City’s Resource Management Commission, task force members will be culled from various sectors of the residential construction industry, including advocates for affordable housing, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Source: Austin Business Journal