News

Orlando, FL, USA: Meritage Homes to Power its Solar Powered Communities With Echo® Solar System
- Jan. 12, 2011

Meritage Homes, one of the nation's 10 largest homebuilders, has signed a National Agreement to use the Echo® solar system as its exclusive solar solution across all of its solar-powered communities.

The revolutionary Echo solar system delivers more than twice as much energy as a basic solar electric, and enables Meritage to build homes that use 70%-80% less energy than a standard code built home. The National Agreement is the first of its kind in the home building industry, and ensures that Meritage homebuyers will realize the tremendous financial benefits of Echo's game-changing technology.

"Echo sets the standard for superior value in solar energy production and as an integrated solar system," said C.R. Herro, Vice President of Environmental Affairs at Meritage Homes. "Last year, in a challenging economic environment, Meritage decided to include Echo as a standard feature in 17 extreme energy efficient communities, and it paid off: many of these communities are selling homes over three times faster than our competition. Our homebuyers are looking for a holistic solution to energy efficiency and sustainability, and Echo helps us give it to them. Echo doesn't just generate electricity like a basic PV system, it also helps our homeowners meet their total home heating and cooling needs as well. And when we show homebuyers how Echo's advanced technology lets them use their mobile phone to monitor their home -and as a remote control for their home thermostat- they don't want settle for anything else."

"Because Echo delivers more than twice as much energy as a basic solar system, it enables homeowners to generate more of their own energy, and that makes good sense these days," said EchoFirst CEO Vikas Desai. "Additionally, Echo provides fresh air ventilation. Many homebuyers rank healthy indoor air quality as an important consideration in buying a home, and Echo lets builders meet the needs of these buyers."

"Leading builders such as Meritage Homes, Joseph Carl Homes, Shea Homes and others are translating the many added advantages that Echo delivers into higher homebuyer traffic and accelerated home sales. We're proud to see that the Echo solar system has become the standard among builders that want to deliver the best clean energy solution available," concluded Desai.