Today, Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy Carter Work Project will be finishing up a group of homes in San Pedro and South Los Angeles. With housing costs being out of the reach of many families in LA, the group helps families get houses by “selling” the houses at cost to the families with interest-free loans. In return, each of the families is required to help out in the planning an building of their new homes.

These houses in Los Angeles will be the first built by the Jimmy Carter Work Project to implement green building elements, including solar panels and energy saving windows among other things. In addition the project is seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which identifies buildings that are environmentally responsible and incur lower operating costs. The organizers were trying to think of ways that they could help to subsidize living costs after the new residents moved in, and their decision to go green will pay off. They have estimated that by including these green elements the houses will only have about $7/month in electricity bills.

Hopefully this project will start to show the public that solar isn’t just for green loving hippies anymore. Here is a clear case of builders choosing solar as a solution to lower monthly energy costs.

Sources:
NPR morning addition 11/2/07
Push to build “green” homes picks up steam [Reuters UK, 11/1/07]
Habitat to build 30 town houses in 5 days [LA times.com, 10/29/07]

Filed under: Green | Sustainable — Santi @ 7:31 am