Newlyweds Justine Yotti-Conrique and Michael Conrique moved into their new home in the Shadow Mountain development about a month ago.
It’s a one story ranch style house made of stucco and stone like you’d see in any new development.
But, the inner workings are different— the power is all electric, which is what drew Justine and Michael to it.
“We wanted to make sure that our home kind of embodies these values that Justine and I tried to have,” said Michael.
Justine and Michael consider themselves climate activists.
And they like the idea of being able to disconnect from the state’s power grid.
Their home, like the some 200 others in this KB Home’s suburb, are connected to a microgrid that produces its own power with solar and batteries.
Justine says after living through rolling blackouts and power failures in 100-degree heat, “If there is ever a power outage in the future, we're covered with our micro grids. So that's a safety net all the way for us, especially working from home.”
US Department of Energy officials say they’re studying this development to learn how to use the technology to make older homes more energy-efficient.