Dive Brief:

• A Kansas City startup will build the city’s first net-zero home — one of about 400 in the country.

• The 1,800-square-foot home will begin construction in January and finish in April, the owners of Acre Designs — a husband-and-wife team — told The Kansas City Business Journal. Aside from a solar array, energy-efficient appliances, occupancy sensors and a passive geothermal system, the house will feature four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and will cost about $220,000.

• Acre Designs co-founders Andrew and Jennifer Dickson, both architects, and their family will live in the home for 18 months to collect baseline data on its energy performance.

Dive Insight:

What is most unique about the home is its cost: Jennifer Dickson, the startup’s chief design officer, told The Journal that most net-zero dwellings cost two to three times more than an average house.

“Energy-efficient homes right now are a luxury, so we’re trying to make that more accessible,” she said.

To that end, the firm is experimenting with a construction process to build the home quicker and less expensively than the average home. For example, the company will ship construction kits containing pre-cut structural insulated panels, windows, fixtures and most other building materials, to the local homebuilder who will construct the house.

The couple intends to expand the company’s reach nationwide by marketing the net-zero concept and the time-saving construction process. Dickson told The Journal that the firm already has fielded more than two dozen requests from potential homeowners