Solar-Powered Community Under Construction In Southern California

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 2nd 2010 at 4:02PM

California has been gradually making inroads into adding solar panels onto homes but it has been slow going. One developer, Comstock Homes, may change all that, developing what they call the nation's first single-builder, solar-powered community. The Villages at Heritage Springs will be located on 54 acres in Sante Fe Springs, California. There will be over 500 homes which will be available from styles ranging from two-story townhouses to three-story free-standing homes.

Homes will have double-pane windows, energy-efficient lighting, heating and air-conditioning, cool roof tiles and a tankless water heater. SunPower solar roof tiles will power their lights, appliances, TV and other electronic devices and can save owners up to 60 percent on their electric bills. Move Trends reported last month that five models of the Villages at Heritage Springs are listed from $534,000 to $569,000. The project should be completed within three years.

[via Springwise]

Tags: community, real estate development, RealEstateDevelopment, santa fe springs, SantaFeSprings, solar panels, SolarPanels

Filed under: Green, Real Estate Developments

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rae Kwon Feb 5th 2010 3:33AM

If you're serious about living in this compound you better run a background check on the dirt, literally.

First of all there's a mothballed oil refinery within one city block (re: just under four football fields long) of the new residential units. The owner of the refinery tried to re-start operations without success.

Within another city block in the opposite direction is the site of the EPA-governed Waste Disposal, Inc. Superfund. The WDI site is a 580 foot diameter, 42-million gallon concrete-lined reservoir which was used until the 1960s as a disposal area for petroleum wastes, construction debris and other materials. Construction/remediation began at this site in 2004.

Just over two (2) miles away is the Omega Chemical site. Both the WDI and Omega Superfund sites are on the EPA National Priority List of contamination remediation projects. The effects of the spills and leaks at the Omega Chemical plant has contaminated the groundwater and soil in a region running from Whittier Blvd. in the north through Imperial Hwy. in the south. The Villages housing site is completely enveloped by the "contamination boundary."

The cleanup plans for these superfund sites are still in action. I'm sure the soil, groundwater, and indoor air conditions will continue to improve over the years that the EPA is in charge. Hopefully the land will be returned to its desired condition and the refinery will be decommissioned and its land remediated.