Source: Houston Business Journal June 2, 2008
Houston-based housing developer Land Tejas Communities has announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $13.5 million to the non-profit Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) for a series of energy projects that will include investments in the Land Tejas community of Discovery at Spring Trails.
Craig Lobel, President of EcoEdge Consulting, which created the Sustainability Master Plan for Discovery at Spring Trails, said, “The goal of the project is to develop a master-planned community of 3,000 homes that meets advanced environmental and energy efficiency standards for homes in a median price range using the latest technologies. Discovery at Spring Trails is the first community to utilize extra-high-efficiency building techniques, in-home energy management tools, energy-saving appliances, efficient lighting standards, the option to install up to 3 kilowatts of photovoltaic electric power, which will produce a 30-50% power savings for homeowners, and a 250-kilowatt solar-generation plant to supplement the community’s energy needs. We also are installing state-of-the-art water-use reduction and reuse systems.”
The DOE grant, which will be invested during a five-year demonstration period from January 2010 to January 2015, will be a part of the effort to better integrate the vast Texas wind energy resources into the state’s electric transmission, distribution and metering system. The project includes the installation of synchrophasors to enhance monitoring of grid conditions as variable wind resources move through the system and the transmission of power from the grid to integrated Smart Grid technologies at Discover at Spring Trails. These will include household and solar plant battery storage, which will be charged during off-peak hours to assure the lowest-possible energy costs, as well as smart meters, appliances, lighting and controls furnished through the GE ecomagination initiative, and plug-in stations for hybrid electric vehicles in every garage.
Located in North Houston, near the Hardy Toll Road and Rayford Road, the 1,150-acre community will include rooftop solar panels and solar trellises, a community “solar farm” and wall-mounted dashboards that show homeowners how much energy, water and carbon emissions are being saved in real time. The home builders are also incorporating GE’s ecomagination Homebuilder Program.
“We are creating communitywide energy efficiency guidelines for all of our builders,” says Al Brende, co-founder of Land Tejas.
A one-kilowatt solar panel will be included as a standard feature on each new home — enough to provide 15 percent to 20 percent of the electricity use of a typical home — and home buyers will have the option of expanding the kilowatt level of the panels. At the three kilowatts, a home could potentially have zero emissions from electricity.
Covering approximately 100 square feet, the one-kilowatt solar panels may be installed on rooftops or as “solar trellises” which may be incorporated into landscaping.
With up to 3,000 new homes planned for Discovery at Spring Trails, the community would have three megawatts of solar generating capacity.
“Assuming projected whole-home savings of 40 percent, plus the minimum of one kilowatt generated by each home, residents will save an estimated 20,000 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere each year,” Brende says. “They would also conserve about 45 million gallons of water each year.”
According to GE Consumer & Industrial: “A 2,500-square-foot home built to the ecomagination Homebuilder Program specification is designed to save the homeowner $600 to upwards of $1,500 on annual utility bills versus an industry-standard average new home due to significant energy and water savings.”
Newly opened Discovery Center at Spring Trails is designed to be an educational resource for anybody interested in green building and green living. Discovery at Spring Trails will include gated and non-gated sections, with home sites ranging from 50 feet wide up to one-half acre. Home builders in the first phase will include MHI/Plantation Homes, Mercedes Homes, Imperial Homes and First Texas Homes.