The US home building industry will be transformed when California’s Zero Energy requirements take effect in 2020, according to CleanTechnica. New regulations will apply to all new residential buildings and renovations. Experienced zero energy home designers and builders as well as green real estate professionals and appraisers will gain a competitive edge as new clients seek out Zero Energy Homes.

The California law could well have this powerful effect because:

1. It sets a precedent for other states to adopt building energy codes on the path to net zero. Already, the state of Washington has passed a similar path to establishing a zero energy building  code and the Federal Government will be requiring that all new federal buildings be Zero Net Energy by 2030. As the building industry aligns with the California, Washington and federal codes, other states will gradually follow suit.

2.  As the ninth largest economy in the world California will speed the development of energy efficiency technologies that will make constructing zero energy homes easier and less expensive.

3.  California will build a smarter electricity grid to manage the intermittency of renewable energy generation. Home and building storage technologies will likely become more widespread, more efficient, and less expensive, making the nationwide move to zero energy homes even more likely.

4. California will provide a large, predictable, and dependable market for high performance building technologies, resulting in increased investments in these technologies and lower costs.

One way or another, the California code will result in a dramatic increase in numbers of Zero Energy Homes across the country. Building and real estate professionals conversant with Zero Energy Homes will have a competitive advantage over others when it comes to building them.