The future? 21,000 Homes, No-Carbon Footpint

[jaxlongtimer]

Interesting development taking place in Valencia, California, one hour outside Los Angeles.  Will this be the future of more and more development?

This new community will have 21,000 homes – and net zero carbon emissions, developer says

A new housing model is rising from the dirt in Valencia, California, and potentially raising the bar for real estate developers hoping to reduce their carbon footprints.

More than 21,000 homes are going up in a brand-new community that, its developer says, will be the largest net-zero community in the nation, and potentially the world. In other words, it will leave no carbon footprint.

FivePoint Valencia went into planning 20 years ago, but legal battles ensued, pitting environmentalists against real estate planners. Finally, the project is now getting off the ground.

"It was really an attempt to change the paradigm and turn the debate with the environmental community from across the table to let's sit on the same side of the table and see if we can find ways to move forward," said Emile Haddad, CEO of FivePoint. "We need to evolve with the world, and I believe that this will be a step forward."

The plan at the development is eventually for about 21,500 homes on 15,000 acres, built by big names like KB Home, Lennar, Toll Brothers and Tri Pointe. There will be multifamily units, affordable housing and commercial space, as well as park areas and green spaces....

....In order to get to net zero, the homes will of course have solar panels. There will be electric vehicle chargers in the garages, as well as spaces to charge shared electric vehicles like scooters and e-bikes. Each home will have a high-performance attic that reduces the need for air conditioning, heating and ventilation.

The neighborhood's pools will be heated through geothermal exchange technology. Recycled wastewater will be used for all irrigation through high-tech sewer pump stations, and landscaping will be drought tolerant and low combustible. That, however, will only get the community halfway to net zero.

"You have to be very creative and you have to challenge yourself and you have to think differently than yesterday," said Haddad.

As offsets, FivePoint is earning carbon credits through several other projects costing tens of millions of dollars, according to Haddad. They are launching a methane capture program at a California dairy farm and installing rooftop solar in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. FivePoint acquired the state's 170-acre Pine Creek Forest, adding a permanent conservation easement.

It is even replacing traditional three-rock cook stoves in sub-Saharan Africa with clean-burning stoves and saving California's endangered Sonoma spineflower by carving out preserves for it at the development.....

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/massive-new-housing-community-will-have-no-carbon-footprint-developer-says.html?recirc=taboolainternal

[bl8jaxnative]

We should be careful about carbon credits.  They may not be much of anything as an offset.  And, either way, they don't mean the actual thing doesn't have emissions.

[Florida Power And Light]

21,000 new buildings and related development footprint far more concerning than " Carbon Footprint".

[WarDamJagFan]

One giant virtue-signaled community. 15,000 acres of land needed for development. Lots of trees need to come down for that. Think of all the heavy equipment, fuel, manpower, etc required to clear that land then ship out the timber. Additionally, where's all this electricity going to come from in order to charge 21,000 electric vehicles if each home is to have their own charging station? Once you include scooters as well, that's 40,000+ charging stations alone. And we're going to have heated pools? AC? Heat? Lights? Then just general power inside the home for WiFi, computers, televisions, microwaves, kitchens (doubt they would use Gas out there) and the list goes on. This place absolutely will have a carbon footprint.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ The article does say that every house is going to have solar panels on the roof.  I also imagine, being California, that the state is likely a leader in other forms of "green" energy sources already.

I do have concern over the development of 15,000 virgin acres.  The article notes that a sizable portion will remain green space but it doesn't specify exactly how much that is.  If one figures, with roads and infrastructure, 5 houses per acre, I would estimate they could possibly utilize somewhere from 4,000 to 5,000 acres.  They also note they could add more houses later but, again, don't specify details.

FYI, Nocatee is also 15,000 acres, Silverleaf is 8,000 +/- as I recall, and I believe Wildlight is more than 15,000 acres.  That doesn't count all the developments going in on 1,000 to 5,000 acres.  So we should have the same concerns for the mega-developments in our own backyard but I don't see anyone raising the same ruckus here.  The development in California was held up by environmentalists for 20 years before they worked out this plan together.

[Charles Hunter]

I wonder how the record-drought-drained Lake Mead, and its reduced ability to provide water and electricity, will affect this development?
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/08/weather/hoover-dam-lake-mead-water-level-drought/index.html

[bl8jaxnative]

Additionally, where's all this electricity going to come from in order to charge 21,000 electric vehicles if each home is to have their own charging station?

They can't without big changes to the grid.

One of the things a lot of us have a hard to grasping is that politicians and bureaucrats - and in this case, developers - surely wouldn't be so self-centered, ignorant, et al. that they'd take us down a road of electricity everything without spending the trillions it'll take for a grid to handle that.

They can and they are.