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California's Prime Solar Powered Real Estate

August 9, 2007 | 17 Comments

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Vacaville, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] While there have been reports in recent months of homeowners encountering problems when trying to install solar electric or hybrid renewable energy systems because of strict homeowner association guidelines or local zoning regulations, some California residents are bypassing these issues altogether by purchasing homes in communities where photovoltaics (PV) and energy efficiency are now the norm.

"Recent builder sales data has indicated that new homes equipped with the SunPower SunTiles system are selling at approximately twice the rate as comparable homes in the same neighborhoods.

-- Bill Kelly, SunPower, general manager of the New Homes Division

Take Meritage Homes Corporation's newest development, Encore Community, in Vacaville, California. Each of the 45 homes in the community will be equipped with a 2.3-kilowatt (kW) SunPower SunTile(R) system from SunPower Corporation.

The homes are also built to exceed state and federal energy efficiency standards by 35 percent or more. Meritage expects that the solar power systems, combined with the energy efficient features, will save homeowners up to 70 percent on their electric utility bills.

"Recent builder sales data has indicated that new homes equipped with the SunPower SunTiles system are selling at approximately twice the rate as comparable homes in the same neighborhoods," said Bill Kelly, general manager of the New Homes Division at SunPower, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems.

"Energy prices have risen dramatically over the years. Meritage has recognized that combining high quality, energy-efficient features with solar power systems will result in substantial savings for homeowners," added Kelly.

To maximize energy efficiency, Meritage Homes, which is headquartered in Arizona and Texas, has included energy-saving windows and insulation, high-efficiency appliances, attic radiant barriers, low-leakage duct work, and tankless water heaters, among other features in the Encore development. The homes meet or exceed the energy efficiency requirements of several state and federal initiatives, including:

• the California Energy Commissions' New Homes Solar Partnership;
• the US Environmental Protection Agency's and U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Star program, and;
• Building America's Zero-Energy Homes program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

"We're very pleased to be offering these zero-energy homes in the Vacaville area," said Jeff Jacobs, vice president of Meritage Homes' Northern California/Bay Area Division. "Encore homeowners will benefit from both substantially reduced utility bills and the satisfaction that they are helping to improve the environment by using clean, renewable energy."

But homebuilding and land development corporations aren't the only players when it comes to making solar-friendly communities a reality. Earlier this week, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) announced that another 462 solar-powered, super energy-efficient homes will be built in the Sacramento, California area in agreements between SMUD and two homebuilders, Homes by Towne and Centex Homes.

SMUD buys down the cost of solar and energy efficiency equipment to keep the price of the homes affordable to more customers.

Homes by Towne will construct 355 SolarSmart homes in four communities in SMUD's service territory and Centex will construct 107 in four other communities. The deals are just the latest that SMUD has signed with homebuilders to construct SolarSmart homes in the area.

In March, SMUD announced a partnership with Lennar Homes to build more than 1,200 SolarSmart homes. In May, SMUD signed a deal with Tim Lewis Communities to build 183 SolarSmart homes. Construction has already begun on those homes.

Like Meritage's Encore Community, the SMUD SolarSmart homes boast energy efficiency measures to help customers reduce their bills year-round, including efficient HVAC systems, radiant barriers in attics, added insulation, duct sealing and energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting.

Cumulatively, the 1,900 SolarSmart homes that SMUD has partnered with builders to construct are expected to shave nearly three megawatts off peak demand, and help keep power costs low for all customers.

This solar-housing boom in California can be largely attributed to the state's New Solar Homes Partnership, which provides financial incentives and other support for installing eligible PV systems on new residential buildings that receive electricity from specified investor-owned utilities.

The 10-year, $400 million program is managed by the California Energy Commission (CEC) as part of the California Solar Initiative, which was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on January 12, 2006. Beginning in 2011, the partnership will not only encourage but actually require builders to offer solar as a standard feature in new home developments of 50 or more.

Solar Energy

17 Reader Comments

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1 of 17

matthew-hansen-59811

August 9, 2007

Thank you for the continued coverage of this great new market! It is exciting to see more and more news of builders untilizing solar on new developments. Hopefully soon it will be commonplace. Matt HansenREC SolarSolar Energy Consultant - Production Homes

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2 of 17

james-levis-40460

August 9, 2007

Hopefully this acceptance of solar + super high efficiency building will be the norm in in communities around the US and not the exception in the next few years.....

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3 of 17

jay-draiman-67845

August 10, 2007

OUR NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION  By YJ Draiman Our concern for future generations (R3) (Renewable natural resources)  Rainwater harvesting and the utilization of grey-water is a must these days.As the world population is increasing and modernizing. The utilization of our natural resources such as water is becoming scarcer and more in demand.In order to conserve, we must utilize rainwater, and grey-water. This will also reduce water and sewer cost.There are many techniques today which are not expensive and can be accomplished with little effort. All you need is to be concerned about the future and take action to minimize your impact on the depletion of natural resources.We should also make it our utmost concern to make our home and or business energy efficient, and implement water conservation methods.Builders should be required by building code to design and build structures that are energy efficient and conserve on water and other natural resources.                          Reduce waste and utilize recycled materials.All citizens of the world should implement actionable conservation methods and living responsibly by contributing to the solution of sustainability. YJ Draiman, Energy ConsultantNorthridge, CA. 91325 – 8/6/2007.<a href="mailto:renewableenergy2@msn.com" target="_blank">renewableenergy2@msn.com</a>  PS.SAVE ON ENERGY COSTS AND THE ENVIRONMENTA growing number of people are striving to make their homes more energy-efficient, and it’s no wonder: Conserving energy saves homeowners money on gas and electric bills and contributes to a healthy environment. It can also make a home more comfortable.GREEN BUILDING - The goal of green building is to reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and the people in them.RADIANT BARRIER - Radiant barrier is installed in buildings to minimize heat gain or loss, reducing the amount of energy needed for cooling and heating.Recent technological improvements in building elements and construction techniques, and heating, ventilation, and cooling systems, allow most modern energy saving ideas to be seamlessly integrated into any type of house design without sacrificing comfort, health, or aesthetics.

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elizabeth-shipley-70000

August 10, 2007

The author of this article should send it to every senator and rep. in congress and state legislatures. Also, try and get on as many regular talk shows as possible since most people don't have a clue about solar.

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elizabeth-shipley-70000

August 10, 2007

This is  great news. Perhaps we  could start a grass roots movement by having each and every state duplicate  this. I have emailed about 10 state legislatures with the information urging them to  see how this would work in their state.

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scot-shatwell-64069

August 10, 2007

This is truly great news.  It is much cheaper and easier to install PV systems on new development homes, but also this gives the developer and architect the opportunity to orient the home for optimal solar exposure. It seems that it would also be worth considering solar water heating and some passive solar designs such as  awnings, tubular skylights, and maybe even water walls to take more advantage of the sun without tremendous added costs.

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chuck-conover-55161

August 10, 2007

<div>I recently sent Governor Napalatano (Arizona) an email suggesting a law that all new homes built in the state be required to supply (an estimated) 50% of their own electricity needs.  (say, 1KW for every 1000 sq ft).  This would greatly help the growing pains of the most rapidly expanding state in the union, as well as make Arizona the most forward-thinking state with regards to our energy needs.  (Of course, we're still 48th in education, I think).</div><div></div><div>Seems builders are getting the same idea (for different reasons, of course) in California.  Bravo! </div>

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david-miller-69770

August 10, 2007

Hi Jim, The solution could possibly be a system that doesn't cost the current homeowner huge amounts of money, has a profound impact on the environment. A program that locks the current electric rates for up to 25 years. So, as long as the homes can receive enough sun during the day the system can be installed. Then alomg with other energy saving products older homes can redce their carbon foot print substantially. <a href="http://www.nwarkansassolar.com/" target="_blank">www.NWArkansasSolar.com</a> may have the solution.David

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9 of 17

jim-baber-11063

August 10, 2007

It would be interesting if a similar program could be developed for the resale homes market.  --  It might be the ticket to help the resale market for home sales recover.  It would be difficult, considering financing and all.  But we should consider that the national Appraiser's guidelines say that a Solar PV system is worth an additional value of 20 times it's annual avoided power costs to the usual appraised value of the home.The biggest problem here is explaining to the Real Estate agents how to calculate what the annual avoided power cost is, and how to calculate it.  Not a simple solution with tiered rate structures and Time of Use metering having a major issue.

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10 of 17

hussain-alrobaei-50048

August 11, 2007

In the area of building renovation, solar hot water preparation is attractive to increase the efficiency of conventional Domestic Hot Water (DHW) heating systems and help mitigate the impact of electricity price upswings. Heating water with the sun also means long-term benefits, such as being cushioned from future fuel shortages and price increases, and environmental benefits. Grid-connected systems, such as PV in Buildings, also have a significant potential. Though in recent years, solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) systems are typically located on residential or commercial building.  At the same time the costs of solar PV systems keep on reducing and as advances in Building Integration (BI) techniques continue to be made there is growing interest in grid connected BIPV systems and the possibility of integration into the roof of residential buildings is of great importance. However, the solar PV array convert of 8: 15 % the absorbed solar radiation to electricity, the rest dissipates as heat. This motivates a heat and electricity cogeneration system, where heat is removed from the PV array, stored and used not only for DHW heating but also can be used for low temperature space heating. Various concepts of combined PV-thermal collectors are possible. These concepts differ in their approach to obtain the maximum yield and it is not easy to say whether the yield of a complicated design will be substantially higher than the yield of a simpler one. The long-term goal is to realize Grid Connected Solar System (GCSS) hat produce electrical as well as thermal energy at sufficiently low cost. This means that investment costs has to be lowered as much as possible. From this standpoint the recent study [1] was undertaken to include proposed GCSS targets the two dominating energy demands in residential buildings: low level energy for DHW heating and high level energy (electricity) to cover a significant fraction of the electricity demand. The study result shows that, GCSS offer some potential advantages over a separate GCSS consisting of side-by-side solar PV panels and thermosyphon solar water heaters, enabling faster introduction solar energy buildings. For the case study the annual specific rate of fossil fuel saving in electrical power grid amount 269.4  kg.fuel/year per square meter of the solar PV/T collectors as a result of 199.6 kW.hr/year.m2 electrical, and 904.5 kW.hr/m2.year thermal, power generation. However, solar PV/T collector concept results in lower direct electric and thermal power output, but the advantages are a potential of high specific rate of fossil fuel saving and good overall performance of the solar system. Such concept requires careful analysis on a case-by-case basis of potential future commercial applications, which may greatly benefit from cogeneration of hot water and electrical power. [1] Hussain Alrobaei, 2007 , The Effectiveness of Combined Heat and Power Solar Water Heating Systems/ environmental-expert.com/resultarticlept.asp.

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linda-slocum-70063

August 11, 2007

I'd like to see Lennar expanding its solar home designs to the Santa Clarita area (Los Angeles County) as well, since they have plans to build several high-density developments there over the next several years.Making solar energy systems more affordable to existing homeowners would also be a big relief to our already overburdened electrical grids. Seems it would be better to install more solar energy in homes than to spend a huge amount of funds to expand current systems and install more towers.

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jim-berry-51310

August 13, 2007

I think we should keep sticking it to  these new homeowners.  Let's make them pay extra for their houses, they can afford it. As for giving them a bargin by keeping their price for 25 years, thats a great deal (ha ha). If we build a few power plants and cut prices to where they belong, these chumps will be out of luck.  But , they deserve it for buying big new houses.

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giulio-negrini-58819

August 14, 2007

We're very pleased to be able to offer zero-energy homes worldwide.Giulio Negrini<a href="http://www.intermatchcorp.com/" target="_blank">www.intermatchcorp.com</a>

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jay-draiman-55516

August 30, 2007

To accelerate “IMPLEMENTATION of ENERGY EFFICIENCY, CONSERVATION, RENEWABLES and Reduction in the use of fossil fuels”.                                                                                                 The U.S. government can initiate an aggressive program to encourage and expedite these concepts, reduce demand by spurring a revolution in energy productivity initiating:                                                One promising idea is to make energy efficiency trade-able, much in the same way as we trade oil and natural gas, or, indeed, carbon emissions. A system making energy efficiency trade-able in the U.S. -- companies would be able to sell credits when they exceeded new standards -- would quickly reduce total energy consumption while limiting carbon emissions. Adding a market mechanism to trade efficiency gains would make energy efficiency standards more palatable to industries that have resisted them in the past and expedite implementation of energy efficiency and fuel efficiency. – “Money makes the world go round”.YJ Draiman, Energy analyst 8/31/2007

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greg-martinez-147817

May 31, 2008

This article interested me. We need to get more people into real renewable energy sources as soon as possible, so new communities that include solar power are an excellent development. I hope this becomes more of a trend.

I recently put a solar installation on my house in Ocala, FL to heat hot water, and getting it through the homeowner's association was a nightmare. Still, I have heard of new things being tried. One of my friends contacted Adam Edward Rothwell, an attorney and sustainable energy expert, to offer solar power as an incentive to selling his house through the website

http://www.solarpowerandrealestate.com

We definitely need more homes with sustainable energy, and the sooner we embrace renewable energy the better!

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16 of 17

payal_mukesh20

August 6, 2010

Nice Comment!!

Let's make them pay extra for their houses, they can afford it. As for giving them a bargin by keeping their price for 25 years, thats a great deal.

visit here : Mount Snow Real Estate

Comment
17 of 17

realestatedealer

August 21, 2010

This website have discussed California's prime solar power real estate and according to reports in recent months most of the home owners are encountering problems when they try to install hybrid energy renewable system as they have been prohibited by local zoning regulations. Moreover those who are looking for some properties for their business, commercial and housing purposes at affordable prices can go through this site or can contact at 0120-4338222 or 800-232-2343.

http://www.ncrdealer.com/

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