In a recent episode of CNBC’s ‘Make It’, there was a Portland couple who had created their own green house, which used zero energy in the process. In a world of rising energy bills, this sounds like the ideal scenario. However, upon digging deeper, it seemed to be massively inefficient in terms of finances.

As seen in the clip above, it’s undeniable that their home looks nice and produces clean energy. Still, as many in the video comments said, was it really worth it?

After years of green investments – they cut their energy bills from a yearly total of $1100 to $285. This represents a 75% saving. However, when taking into account the money needed to invest in this green technology, it really doesn’t look so good. In total, they spent over $61,000 to create their ultimate green home, with almost half of this money being spent on solar panels.

This would mean it would take over 60 years for them to break even. Sadly though, it gets worse. Every few years, heat pumps need to be replaced or serviced which is obviously a big cost. Even solar panels may need repairing decades into the future.

Obviously, the story here is more about the environment than money. Nonetheless, it still shows that it’s not easy (or affordable) to live a truly green lifestyle.

Would you consider this upfront cost good value to reduce future energy bills?