A zero-energy house, with largely reduced energy needs through efficiency gains such that the remaining energy requirements are met with renewable energy systems to supply electricity, hot water, and seasonal heating and cooling, is studied in this paper. The first and second laws of thermodynamics are used as prime tools to analyze the performance of the different system components with emphasis on exergy analysis to properly asses the system efficiency. A sensitivity analysis on the system components is carried out by varying several parameters. The Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software is employed to calculate all the system properties and develop the parametric studies. The study is divided into two parts. In the first part, the energy efficiency and exergy efficiency values are evaluated while keeping all the parameters constant to study the hourly effects of solar energy changes on the system's behavior. In the second part, numerous parameters are changed one at a time to study what effects it has on the efficiency values of the systems. Finally, an exergoeconomic analysis is conducted to calculate the total cost of the system equipment and operating, maintenance, and exergy destruction costs. An optimization, using a multiobjective technique, is carried out for minimum total system cost and maximum overall exergy efficiency, where the overall exergy efficiency improves from 41% to 49% at a total cost increase from $0.93/h to about $1.00/h. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.