Officials in Westport, Connecticut, presented a $2 million smart home on the town’s waterfront with an award for energy efficiency, as the state looks for ways to make them more affordable.
The house runs almost entirely on solar energy through an external battery made by Tesla, and it uses a smart home system by Apple to monitor energy use throughout the house.
Governor Ned Lamont said he’d like to make similar projects affordable for more Connecticut residents.
“We have a green bank. And we have the energy efficiency fund, with tens of millions of dollars. And I’ve gotta make sure this type of technology is cost-effective and the type of thing we could roll into our existing programs.”
The house was built by a Westport-based company who has built about 30 similar projects around the country. Designers say the built-in solar energy system saves about $1,000 a year in energy costs.