Despite the near-total collapse of the housing market in the U.S. in the last few years, there has been a relatively rapid adoption of solar power among some homebuilders, as well as a much greater focus on energy efficiency in new homes.

More home developers are now offering solar energy systems as an option or standard feature in their developments. In addition to solar, builders are also investing in a higher level of energy efficiency in these homes. To achieve more installations of solar equipment required a partnership among government agencies, utilities, solar providers and homebuilders.

Let's gain deeper insights by exploring one development by Pulte Homes' Centex Division located in Elk Grove California, a bedroom community of Sacramento. The Elk Grove community is served by Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). The solar equipment provider and installer at this community is SunPower.

The Benefits of Leveraging Rooftop Solar

Homes are an excellent untapped resource for utilizing solar energy. The benefits include:

• Avoiding unnecessary land use. By using roofs, less land will need to be exclusively dedicated to solar, making the rare California desert tortoises and many other constituents happy.

• Making use of existing and costly infrastructure used to transport energy.

• Managing peak demand, which decreases the overall cost of electricity since "peaker plants" that are brought on-line to handle peak loads are the most costly to operate.

• Increasing a home's value. According to Southern California Edison, "a solar energy system increases a home's average resale value by $20,000 for every $1,000 of annual electric bill savings." In other words, the roughly $84 per month in electricity-bill savings from a solar installation equates to about $20,000 worth of added value to a home.

Installing solar at the same time as the home is being built reduces the cost of installation per home, in part because builders can use the same design on a large number of homes using a similar layout, and also because it's much easier to access the roof as it's being built than to retrofit solar onto an existing home.

More About the Players and Their Goals

The state of California encourages new homes to install solar as part of its larger "GoSolar" program that was launched in 2007. The overall goal of "GoSolar" is to provide 3,000 megawatts of solar electric energy and more than 400 megawatts from new homes by 2017.

SMUD is a public-owned utility that is the sixth largest in the nation. In addition to exceeding the state mandate on renewable energy generation and reducing its carbon footprint, SMUD also wants to reduce its dependence on purchasing electricity on the open market. Jim Burke, Senior Product and Service Coordinator for "SolarSmart" at SMUD explained, "The hot summer months when electricity demand is at its peak, SMUD may pay up to $125 million for just 40 hours of electricity to avoid disruptions."

SunPower is a leading solar manufacturer and installer. As a growth-oriented company, SunPower noticed that new home developers were underserved and developed a strategy to focus on this segment.

Pulte Homes is the largest builder in the United States that also leads with the most Energy Star certified homes. Sam Rashkin, National Director of the Energy Star for Homes Program states that "Pulte Homes stands out for their outstanding efforts. In addition to being one of the first large national home builders to join as a partner in 1996, Pulte Homes currently has the most divisions as active partners and the most completed [Energy Star] labeled homes."

Next page: Why Building a Solar Home Takes more than Sun and Solar Panels