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Housing development with geothermal energy saves homeowners a lot of money


From above, the 2,000-acre new housing development just outside Austin, Texas, looks like any other. Every home has solar panels, but that’s not common anymore.

But the Whisper Valley community is completely unique because of what lies beneath. Depth below.

The master-planned community, which will eventually include family units and garden apartments along with single-family homes, is built atop a giant geothermal grid. This is the largest construction ever created for a residential community – essentially a blueprint for greener living. It also saves residents thousands of dollars in energy bills.

The geothermal grid will heat and cool every home in the community and, when completed over the next decade, will have more than 7,500 homes. Home construction is still in its infancy, with the first homes about two years old, but before any foundations are laid or framed, holes are drilled in front of each lot and lay pipelines to complete the grid.

Geothermal heating and cooling is achieved by approaching a constant temperature deep underground and then using water to circulate that temperature upwards. EcoSmart Solutions, a subsidiary of community developer, Taurus Investment Holdings, built power centers that put water 300 feet underground for access to moderate earth temperatures.

Greg Wolfson explains: “If you’ve just gone down below your feet, 30 to 40 feet, the temperature stays steady at 72 to 74 degrees. Even on the hottest days, it’s 72 to 74 degrees, and even so on. when there’s snow on the ground,” EcoSmart chief technology officer.

The geothermal system in each house looks like a small furnace box. They are powered by electricity, but since every home also has solar panels, the system won’t work in the event of a power outage. Homeowners can opt for a full battery backup for the house to store solar energy for use at night.

Thurman Homes is one of five builders at the development.

The beauty of the system is that for us, as builders, there is very little that has to be considered outside of normal construction operations,” said Michael Thurman, president and chief executive officer of Thurman. Homes said.” The only addition is the connection to the grid itself, which is basically the installation of a water line that goes from the house, through the backyard, to the back of the backyard to tie it in. “

Although the system is powered, it uses much less than a traditional HVAC system, and with the solar package, total energy consumption in the home is reduced by about 80% according to EcoSmart. Homes cost $460,000 on average, about $10,000 more expensive than comparable homes, and battery backups are an additional cost, but buyers should cash in quickly.

“With investing in geothermal, the day you move there will save you money,” says Thurman. and he has a contract in the next period.

The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act is also a headwind for commercial geothermal development. It triples the current 10% tax credit for at least the next ten years. Government backing also shows investors that geothermal is a good option.

“Investors need certainty, and without certainty, they stay on the sidelines,” says Wolfson. “Now there will be projects that are not entirely viable or questionable, much more feasible now, and that means homeowners will have access to this that they otherwise wouldn’t have. on a mass scale.”

Homeowners can also get tax credits based on the solar and geothermal elements of their home.

Jennifer Abbamonty was one of the first buyers in Whisper Valley. Transplanted from the Washington, DC area, she was never meant to live in this part of the Austin area, but was immediately drawn to the geogrid. Environmentally conscious herself, she says she wants to live among like-minded people. And the amount of money saved is indisputable.

“We basically have no electricity bills at this point,” says Abbamonty.

She invested in backup batteries because she said she was worried about what happened in the state about 18 months ago, when a deadly ice storm brought down the power grid.

She said: “It’s really nice that we’ve had little glitches so we don’t have to worry about everything continuing to work.



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