If you wanted to maximize your energy conservation and erase your energy bills, what would it take?

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. is trying to find out. Since July, the utility has made about $94,000 worth of upgrades to the 2,500-square-foot, four-bedroom home owned by Ken and Marie Huff.

The improvements include compact fluorescent lights, highly efficient air-conditioning and heating equipment, low-e glass that provides insulation, and double-pane doors and windows.

The Huffs, both software engineers, did their part by spending $55,000 to remodel the kitchen, improve the patio and paint where needed.

"The benefit isn't only about money," Marie Huff said. "It's also that you're saving energy and the environment and resources."

The results were recently on display at an open house. Three other public displays are planned at the home in the next year as SDG&E monitors the family's energy use and lifestyle changes.

Some vendors supplied the new fixtures and systems as donations and others at deep discounts, all paid by SDG&E.

In a recent preview the Huffs' children, Emmanuel, 10, and Mikael, 7, showed off their ceiling fans, and their sister, Mirabel, 12, pointed to a string of decorative LED lights and a trendy fluorescent light tube fixture.

Those are the smallest changes in what SDG&E is calling an "Xtreme Energy Makeover," designed to see how a family's habits change with the introduction of the newest in energy-saving devices and systems.

Officials want to see if the Huffs change their living habits - turning off lights when not needed, using a fully loaded washing machine and dishwasher - even as they benefit from high-efficiency appliances and systems and lower costs. Or do higher efficiency and lower cost per unit of energy simply free them to waste energy as before?

"We wanted to make a showcase of a real home that would give people considering making their own homes energy-efficient a better picture of how energy efficiency looks in real life," spokeswoman Rachel Laing said.

The Huffs were chosen in a 2006 essay contest in which families living in medium-sized homes built before 1979 were asked why they would be good candidates for a major energy-oriented remodel.

"I was putting up my Christmas lights when they came up to me and asked if I'd be interested in it, that I'd be a good candidate," Ken Huff said.

After making sure it wasn't a scam, he wrote an essay, pointing out how the project would help teach his kids about saving energy and improving the environment.

SDG&E not only selected the Huffs but also reimbursed them $200 for buying low-energy-using LED Christmas lights, which use about 10 percent of the energy that standard decorative lights use.

Then the company's key consultant, Richard Heath & Associates, moved in for the 10-month makeover in what is officially called the "Advanced Home Energy Renovation" project.

RHA senior project manager John Jensen said the Huff residence fit the bill because it is in one of San Diego's warmest climate zones, where air conditioning is needed much of the summer. The Huffs said their monthly utility bill, before the makeover, ranged from $200 to $450.

Jensen said it would take about 20 years to recover all the costs if the family had paid retail price and typical labor costs for installation.

Marie Huff said she believes her home's value has increased because of the upgrades. The family has owned the property for 12 years.

SDG&E experts said the new systems individually are as much as 90 percent more efficient than older ones, but the biggest payback comes from the photovoltaic system, installed a month ago, that is expected to reduce the family's energy bill to zero.

The Huff boys expressed appreciation for the cool LED reading lights attached to their beds.

"It's easier to read," Mikael said.

For more information, contact Richard Heath & Associates, (858) 514-4025, or visit www.xtremeenergymakeover.com.

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