Luxury home builder Toll Brothers has partnered with EchoFirst, a solar energy provider, to build new communities in Arizona that provide a complete solar energy system for water, heating and cooling. EchoFirst supplements conventional solar electric PV panels with solar thermal technology that generates electricity for hot water, as well as thermal energy for heating and cooling the home. This enables Toll Brothers to offer homes that use 70% to 80% less energy than a standard code-built home, according to the announcement.
