What is Digg?78 Comments
- thestrongrope, on 07/24/2008, -1/+25It is great that a planned community is taking this type of initiative, but isn't a suburb still a suburb? (i know, I am never happy). But don't we need to rethink the way we live not just retrofit it?
- MikeChino, on 07/24/2008, -1/+19Communities such as these should be the standard and not the exception!
- inactive, on 07/24/2008, -1/+15I hope other communities would take a cue from this and take more green initiatives...
- inactive, on 07/24/2008, -1/+14Ground breaking! These solar powered communities give me so much hope for the future.
- busybenj, on 07/25/2008, -0/+13I ♥ Canada
- RocquesDiggs, on 08/28/2008, -1/+12Hello USA, wake up! This is really great to see. Thanks for sharing it.
- Zenophon, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10I live in Okotoks, however the houses are a few years old already. Im surprised it took this long to make it to digg...
- RogerStrong, on 07/24/2008, -1/+8I just moved from the inner city (Winnipeg) to a suburb. It's easier to be green in the suburb.
In our old house (like the vast majority of inner city houses) was very old - 96 years old. Though we spend a fortune on new windows and insulation, it'll never be remotely as energy efficient as the new house.
The major food stores are all out in the suburbs - living downtown, grocery shopping meant a trip to the suburbs. Heck, in Winnipeg if you work 9 to 5 and you want to go to the bank or get a transit pass without taking time off work, you need to travel out to the suburbs where banks and shops are open late. Nor did living downtown save gas or time on the commute to work.
For a small town like the one in the story, there's no downtown vs the suburbs - only the main street any everything else. - cygnox, on 07/24/2008, -1/+7Hats off to this community for using solar energy, but this looks like the atypical suburban sprawl communities built in the US after WWII to me. This design of this development is archaic compared to new beautifully designed mixed-use, and higher density subdivisions. I guess I'm just sick of seeing the same ugly designs over and over.
- Designliving, on 07/25/2008, -1/+7The design may need some work, but at least the thought is there. Now if only we could see more developments like this in the US!
- disrupter, on 07/25/2008, -1/+7When the sun goes down, a massive underground beaver exercise wheel takes over.
- pigglesnout, on 07/25/2008, -1/+7Wow. Canada actually is an excellent place for solar power. Believe it or souther parts on Ontario are closer to the equator than parts of the US and get more sunlight. Even in Alberta (where this project is), gets tonnes of light during the summer months.
- taylorblue, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6That is just like 45 minutes from me!! :) Alberta is so great!!
- HonestAbe, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5"The homes are moderately sized, ranging from 1,492 to 1,664 square feet, and have low energy demands ... Water conservation has been made mandatory in the homes."
...and that's the only way it will work. - cygnox, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5The design of the homes is not necessarily what I have an issue with, its the use of space that can be designed better. Instead of giving everyone a tiny little yard that looks the same, why not arrange the houses differently, such as in zero lot line developments, and create a common open space that everyone can enjoy. Just a thought...
- obliviousfool, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6I'm with you. If you're starting from scratch, you don't have to conform to these ideas of the past. This could have taken any shape, but here it just looks like a typical housing development with solar panels stuck on it. The effect is pretty ugly. It is a retro-fit, not a "future-fit."
- thestrongrope, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5Roger,
That is my point about rethinking the whole damn thing. They obviously didn't worry about the city of Winnepeg (I have never been there and cant comment first hand) since you have to travel out of the city limits to do your shopping. Since you have to go out to the suburbs to do you main business maybe they should consider giving you some better services in the metropolitan area. I don't know if putting a solar development is going to alleviate the problems that you have expressed. I think there needs to be a much larger shift in the way we do things. just my opinion of course. - revnoah, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Much nicer than here in Ontario. We could learn a lot from Alberta.
- taylorblue, on 07/25/2008, -1/+5I live in Alberta...during the summer we get a lot of sun...I know in the winter we can go weeks without seeing the sun by hey that's okay. And in Okotoks it's very southern... Montana isn't too far from where we are...
- katorga, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Duh. Every roof should be generating energy rather than simply absorbing heat.
- RogerStrong, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4I was refering mostly to the suburbs within city limits, though I'm now in the the suburbs outside of city limits.
The problem is that Winnipeg is surrounded by farm land - lots of cheap land for the city to expand. And so the cost of land (and property taxes) for a new box store (and parking lot) is minor compared to downtown. And so that's where they get built, along with new housing. - HonestAbe, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Yes.
- Ramble, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4You think 96 years is old?
Come to the UK, in the country you'll range from modern to 500 years to over 1000 years old. - zacharytelschow, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4And what was the average cost of these homes due to their solar panels? Would you pay the extra cost?
- revnoah, on 07/25/2008, -2/+5Right, since we all live in igloos up here in perpetual darkness. We'll keep our "inappropriate" solar energy, thanks. America can take care of itself.
- mdlyn26, on 07/25/2008, -2/+5wow, gives me an idea to put up one in my province... it is expensive??
- revnoah, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3At least the garages are in the back. The designs are pretty basic though.
- krnldmp, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Well maybe. You have to consider the fact that people don't go through houses like cell phones and making decades old technology perform to modern standards (rerofitting) is a major interest that will exist for quite a while.
- Zenophon, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3That is what all of Okotoks looks like, they are just staying in the norm of the community.
- oogee, on 07/25/2008, -2/+5Hey, the comments on that page have the same thumb up and down that digg has. I almost dugg someone down and then I was like "where the ***** am I?"
- videoclipsmiami, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4Excellent development, hopefully the U.S. will have similar developments in the not too distant future.
- zacharytelschow, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Duh. Its way cheaper to burn coal for energy than harness energy from the sun, and that's what people will do until the cost difference is negligible.
- thcobbs, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3This is a really cool project. I think we need to move at least 10% of the USA's power consumption to private, non-polluting, renewable sources immediately. And solar is a great option because of the sheer number of roofs in the USA.
I honestly think that we need a government initiative(god forbid I said it) to drive this forward. But the catch would be that any energy produced in excess of consumption for the home in question must be fed back into the grid and offset other peoples non-green energy use for free over a period of 10 years. Because if you take tax money(which the initiative would use) you shouldn't expect to profit off the result. - belzoradon, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3refit seems like a better first step then no first step but what would you call a rethinking of the way we live? and how would you say we should get to the new way of living? id love to hear yours (or anyones) thoughts on the matter.
- lazn, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4umm read the article, totally misleading, if you read it you will realize that: "The whole system meets 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs of the homes."
These houses still use electricity etc. for everything else TV's lights, etc .. Including cooling (A/C) and the other 10% of heating..
ALL this accomplishes is heating. (no small thing in frigid Canada true, but not a "solar powered community" in my book - asnider, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3"For a small town like the one in the story, there's no downtown vs the suburbs - only the main street any everything else"
That's actually not very accurate. Okotoks is, essentially, a suburb of Calgary. Yes, technically, it's a different town, but a large number of people who live in Okotoks work in Calgary, so it's essentially a suburb of the large city next door (i.e.: Calgary). - 3tcp, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2Look at the insolation maps for north america
http://www.oksolar.com/abctech/images/world_solar_ ...
The parts I mentioned in the USA get more sun than anywhere in canada. - moun10addict, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Great idea, but I hope other neighborhoods like this in the future have a little more breathing room. I prefer to have to go outside in order to talk with my next door neighbor.
- banderwocky, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I hope that other communities, builders, city planners, etc, continue in a direction that involves better planing and energy distribution.
- RogerStrong, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3A lot of suburbs tend to beat the downtown in that regard. I just moved from the downtown to a suburb. From soul-sucking gridiron streets with high-density nearly identical houses, to roads with more natural-looking curves, houses with more variety and much larger yards.
- beesaretasty, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2I bike to work asshat.
- minoss, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2So when government tosses a bunch of subsidies at a development projects and puts a bunch of limits on energy use and floorspace, alternative energy works! Well only if you only need heating and hot water and don't use power for anything else.
- m0laria, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Your car has a battery in it. Guess it isn't a gas powered vehicle.
- zacharytelschow, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Add this to the massive and growing list of articles glorifying alternative energy forms without any mention of the financial costs.
- zacharytelschow, on 07/25/2008, -0/+2Don't you think there's a reason there was no mention of cost in the article?
- obliviousfool, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2Right. I wonder what these houses use for insulation. I wonder what kind of appliances they have.
If you are thinking about putting solar cells on your roof, I can save you some money. Replace your refrigerator with a Sun Frost refrigerator. Replace your water heater with a few tankless water heaters.
There you go. Now when you do get around to putting those solar cells up there, you won't be using them to pump energy into a broken and wasteful system.
See, the problem is that if you retro-fit only one element, all the other elements are still wasteful. I appreciate the effort of these people, but ...they started from scratch and this was the best they could come up with?
I mean, this system is just for heating and cooling. If these were earth-bermed structures, 90% of that cost would just be gone right from the start. It would be eliminated. You wouldn't need to keep feeding energy into a broken system. That's what I mean. These technologies work much better in concert with one another. - Isidore, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1It's not an either/or between the government and private companies. Why do you think governments subsidize military and space technology? What would happen if government did not? Think DARPA think internet.
- kingcam, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2Yes, but what do you propose, we just stop the drilling? Good luck getting to work in the morning in that case.
- kingcam, on 07/25/2008, -1/+2Like what exactly?
- 00slevin, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I live in Okotoks, and it is a decent town. However this is just a small portion of the town and the town has not yet announced if they are going to continue on with this solar plan. This neighborhood is quite a few years old now and the town has had a major population explosion in recent years, ironically due to Albertas Oil Boom of all things, and since this area has been built, no more homes (that I know of) have been built to the same solar specs. We have a population of about 20,000 and supposedly it is being capped off at 30,000 due to a water well shortage. It wont take long to reach that population so it would be nice to see the town get its crap together and build more homes like this. If they do, I would be sure to move from my current home to one like this!
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