In the latter part of 2008, the planned development of 10 zero-energy townhomes near the Issaquah Park and Ride and the YWCA Family Village was put on hold when the Dow Jones fell 777 points to announce the beginning of what has since been labeled the second worst recession in U.S. history.

The economic outlook has apparently improved, in spite of economists’ continued dire warnings, because project developers recently announced that building would commence on Tuesday, April 6, with groundbreaking.

Called zHome, the 10 units, scheduled for completion in the spring of 2011, will feature townhomes that generate as much energy as they use, first by using cutting-edge construction technologies to reduce each unit’s energy use by almost two-thirds (or 5,255 kilowatt-hours per year, as compared to an average 13,989). These technologies also take advantage of large amounts of recycled material, as well as materials with lower VOCs (volatile organic compounds) for healthy indoor air.

But the crowning achievement is the installation of solar photovoltaic panels to provide for the entire reduced energy footprint, energy-efficient appliances to keep that footprint small, and water conservation policies that mean residents also use 60 percent less water than similarly-sized homes.

Water use is cut by recycling rainwater, using water-efficient washing machines, dishwashers, showerheads and faucets, and using gray water for landscape irrigation. Other water-saving measures include rain gardens for wildlife habitat and permeable pavement that reduces runoff and encourages the replenishment of underground aquifers.

The homes are being built by Howland Development Issaquah, a merger of Howland Homes and Ichijo USA – the American subsidiary of Ichijo, which builds energy-efficient homes in Japan. But the real impetus behind the project is the city of Issaquah, which drew on the international flavor of the project to highlight the issue of climate change around the world.

The zero-energy, sustainable housing project is also affordable, and not (as builders note) “a one-off” costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit, and is aimed at demonstrating that even average wage-earning families can to live sustainably. It also hopes to spark a revolution in construction, given the fact that U.S. buildings emit a full 38 percent of all the carbon dioxide emissions the country is responsible for.

Project managers are hoping that the demonstration will encourage other builders, and buyers, to adopt building policies that reduce not only emissions, but toxic air and water pollution, and the habitat alteration on land and in the water that emissions and pollutants engender.

Builders also intend to offer onsite classes while the units are being constructed, and intend to videotape the entire building process to be used for training in zero-energy and sustainable building techniques.

Officials have already assured Issaquah residents that the townhouses will exceed requirements put in place by Bellevue-based Built Green, a nonprofit, environmentally friendly residential building program that provides environmentally savvy homebuyers with an understandable yet comprehensive rating system by which to judge homes for sale.