First "Green" Subdivision in Austin, Tx.

Only sustainable community goes up in East Austin
23 Jul 2009

Austin (KXAN) - An entire community of green sustainable homes is being built in East Austin. When it’s finished it will be the first subdivision in Texas to offer net-zero energy consumption.

"This is actually the first community of its kind anywhere," said Garry Wise, Sales Manager of the GoodLife Team ...cont'd

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/living/First_green_subdivision_in_Texas

(see News Video)

TO AUSTINITES - The open house/grand opening is tonight, 6-8 pm.

More info about the opening and the subdivision here:
http://www.solaustin.com/

The solaustin.com website doesn't say, but I called and they told me that the location of the subdivision and the open house tonight is 1127 Perry Rd.

http://www.solaustin.com/availability.php

It's actually the PRE-grand opening. Don't know when the 'real' grand opening will be.
But I suspect it's still in the raw stage, so wonder how far along it is.

The New Village Green




A couple of years ago Chris Krager, an architect I know in Austin, Texas, called me to announce that he was on the verge of developing, designing and building a “net-zero subdivision.” At the time, I didn’t exactly know what he was talking about. Sure, I understand “subdivision”—generally the word refers to a large parcel of land that has been divvied up into small lots upon which single-family homes are built. (The term has a derisive flavor, redolent of sprawl and cookie-cutter architecture.)

I also knew that Krager, 41, who heads a six-person design/build firm and has a talent for erecting elegant low-cost homes, had long been dreaming of subdivisions, much the way a magazine writer dreams of novels. But the phrase “net zero” meant nothing. Krager had to explain—slowly—that he was planning to build a development in which the houses generate as much energy as they consume over the course of a year. Net energy use: zero. At the time, it sounded like magic.

Now, of course, “net zero” is part of the familiar lingo of green development. And by the time you read this, nearly a third of the homes in Krager’s development, Sol (which also stands for Solutions Oriented Living), should be nearing completion. Located about three miles northeast of downtown Austin, Sol will ultimately consist of 40 fetching little modern houses with photovoltaic arrays on the rooftops, extra-dense insulation in the walls and highly efficient heating and cooling systems. Some of the houses will be modular, built at a factory less than a mile away, and others will be site built. The units will range in size from 1,000 to 1,800 square feet, priced from the low $200Ks to the mid $300Ks, although eight of the units will be sold at subsidized prices and another eight will be retained by a local nonprofit as rentals. “We don’t ensure sustainable communities just by building green,” Krager contends. "There have to be economic and social justice components."

Krager’s dream development positions him at the leading edge of a new movement to build green subdivisions, one that might help some home builders weather the downturn as it addresses the thorny issue of sustainability. In recent years, financial incentives from the federal government and many states have encouraged even the most conventional builders to mount photovoltaics atop a handful of their faux Mediterraneans and Tudors...cont'd

http://www.pointclickhome.com/remodel/articles/new_village_green



Brochure:
http://www.solaustin.com/brochure.pdf