Affordable housing development recently completed with solar power offset.
I hope we see more stories such as this one in the news! A housing company in California (of course!), Satellite Housing, has just completed a 17 unit development for affordable housing that includes solar panels. The solar installation will offset Carbon emissions the equivalent of planting 20 acres of trees or removing 9 average cars from the road, according to the Borrego Solar Systems, Inc. website. It will also offset the amount of money spent on electricity (4200 kWh/month).
There is economic, social, and environmental incentive to alternative energy sources. In one step this company has made steps toward saving money, saving the planet, and saving the residents’ pocketbooks. The ownership group of the development can also take advantage of tax credits.
Jennifer Veilleux
Dr. Jennifer Veilleux is a geographer, writer, and artist. For more than a decade, she has worked on scientific research and security issues facing water resources shared across political boundaries. Research and curiosity has taken her to more than 50 countries on 5 continents, often to remote locations and marginalized communities. Veilleux takes portraits of people she encounters in her field work and recently released a collection, Portraits from Rivers of Change, that can be viewed here: www.jenniferveilleux.com. These portraits highlight two separate communities, one on the Mekong River the other on the Blue Nile River, facing relocation due to dam development. Dr. Veilleux works for Florida International University as a post doctoral associate for the Institute of Water and Environment and manages SELVA, the Serengeti-Lake Victoria Sustainable Water Initiative, a research project on water security of the Mara River in the Upper Nile basin of Tanzania. She maintains a blog, The Way of Water, dedicated to news and commentary about development on the Nile and Mekong, general water resources issues, and special topics related to women in science. She lives in Miami with her cat Mr. FC Sweet Tea.
