 "Photo: Lara Haase/The Daily Texan")
UT’s Center for Sustainable Development in the School of Architecture is partnering with a variety of local organizations to build the world’s first affordable net-zero energy subdivision.
The center will work with the Austin Community Design and Development Center, the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation and the city of Austin to provide 90 or more homes for low- to moderate-income families. Equipped with solar-electric and solar-thermal energy, the homes will be completely carbon neutral.
“It’s extreme green, taking the sustainable design to the next level,” said Michael Gatto, executive director for the Austin Community Design and Development Center, the group that is designing the homes. “Net-zero means these homes won’t be contributing to CO2 production.”
The site of the subdivision is a brownfield, which means contamination makes it currently unlivable. Catherine Esparza, city brownfield project manager, explained that the area was previously an illegal dump site for tires and other waste.
Thirty volunteers and representatives from the three organizations and the city took the first steps toward readying the 11-acre site Saturday in an event called Get Clean to Get Green. The volunteers cleared 244 tires and about 2,300 pounds of other debris such as shopping carts and small trash. The city’s solid waste services did a special pick up to clear almost five tons of material.
“This is one of the things we love to do on a regular basis, and re-investing in the community is important to help sustain these neighborhoods,” said Melissa Prescott, a division manager with solid waste services.
Once the area is cleared, the designs for the homes will begin to take shape. E.B. Brooks, a research associate for the Center for Sustainable Development, said affordability is a key element of the homes. Although solar energy is a popular trend in building homes, the technology is very expensive and usually out of reach for people with lower incomes.
“There are other net-zero subdivisions and even one in Austin being built right now, but this is the first that is truly affordable,” Brooks said. “There’s a great economic divide, but the technology is out there. The fact that it’s affordable is the really novel thing.”
Brooks said they are following the standard of affordability set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homes in the subdivision will cost 60 percent of median family income or less. The area will also include community gardens and a park.
The University’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is helping re-channel the river to prevent flooding in the area. Brooks said the organizations also hope to coordinate home-buyer education classes and distribute information on the viability of solar-energized homes.
The Saturday kickoff date coincided with 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action, part of an initiative to help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from 386 parts per million to 350 parts per million.
“350.org has encouraged people to organize marches, rallies, projects, some sort of action to stand up for climate change,” Brooks said. “This is to show how many millions of people around the world care. In 170 countries right now, more than 4,500 actions are taking place, and we’re part of it.”
Be the first to comment on this article!