The home won't house a real family. Instead, the NIST researchers plan to simulate the energy and water consumption of a family of four. Throughout the first year, they'll be testing various products and technologies in the Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF), as it's called. Essentially it's a real-world laboratory built at NISTs headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md.
The ultimate goal? "To demonstrate that a net-zero energy house doesn't require homeowners to radically change their concept of the American dream. They can ease into the future.
Learn more about this project at: http://www.nist.gov/el/nzertf/