With planning started more than 20 years ago due to environmental restrictions. After more than 2 decades of litigation. Five points Valencia is located one hour from Los Angeles a net zero community.  Comprise of 21,500 homes, green condos, multifamily, affordable housing, and over 11 million sq. ft. of  commercial space.

All homes will be Energy star certified. With solar panels located on their roofs. Each home will have high performance insulation sealed attics that reduce air conditioning, ventilation, and heating requirements. All exterior building penetrations will be air sealed with caulking to maintain a high performance home.

The 15,000 acre master planned Valencia, will include 10,000 acres of open space. 19 recreation centers, 11 different parks and seven new schools. Valencia will be home to over 60,000 residents.

Valencia community pools will be heated using geothermal technology. Recycled waste water will be used for all irrigation. Utilizing high tech sewer lift stations. Landscaping will be low combustible and drought tolerant. Wildfire mitigation is a major environmental concern in California. Throughout the community there will be 2,000 EV charging stations. Community sharing of scooters, and E-bikes. There will be neighborhood solar grids supplying power to individual homes. Which will include EV charging stations in individual homes garages.

This will only get Valencia half way to to a net zero community. Five point will earn carbon credits through several  offsite unrelated projects. Acquiring a 170 acre Pine Creek Forest permanent conservation easement, Launching a methane capture dairy farm, and installing rooftop solar on unrelated communities rooftops. Valencia is not a traditional net zero certified community using community geothermal and solar energy. This was part of the 20 year litigation entitlements for Valencia.

Major Homebuilders include: Lennar, Richmond, Toll brothers, KB home, and Tri pointe group. Homes will be priced from 400,000 to over one million on this 15,000 acre planned community. Valencia will include 18 distinct different neighborhoods.

DURANGO AT SHADOW MOUNTAIN

All 78 homes constructed at shadow mountain will be using numerous experimental green technologies. All homes will be connected to an community microgrid, independent from California’s electrical grid. A second 144 home adjacent subdivision called Oak Shade at Show Mountain will be connected to a separate microgrid. Both microgrids will share a 2.3 megawatt community battery. Independent from California’s electrical grid. Both microgrids can also utilize solar energy and storage batteries in the event of a blackout.

KB home is collaborating with SunPower, Kia Corp, Schneider Electric, US Irvine, and Southern California Edison.  The US government is financing 6.6 million to develop and test if microgrid technology could be used in future green neighborhoods. The microgrid electrification will reduce the communities carbon footprint. Individual sustainable homeowners will be able to sell all excess power generated and stored in their batteries back to Southern California Edison. Immune to future rate increases.

Each individual homes battery is a 13 kilowatt Sun Vault battery from SunPower. Connected to rooftop solar panels. Individual heat pumps and smart thermostats are wi-fi connected to each homes Energy star appliances. Coordinated with individual and community batteries and solar arrays to maximize energy production. This allows all individual 219 water heater heat pumps to be transformed into thermal batteries. Electrical heat pumps are installed into each garage, A second heat pump heats and cools the home located in the back yard.

Homes can draw on solar electricity stored in the batteries. Thereby eliminating peak demand from the external traditional electrical grid, prone to blackouts, and wildfire risk. All homes are prewired for EV chargers. During daylight hours solar panels charge individual and community batteries. All homes are constructed to DOE Zero Energy certification.

Each home utilizes a smart panel from Schneider Electric. The smart panel controls and balances every circuit in each home. Allowing homeowners to decide which circuits to operate in the event of a blackout. Color coded green labels identify which circuits powered by the home battery would remain on including: power outlets, lights, Wi-Fi, microwave, and refrigerator. Grey labels heat pumps and stoves would remain off until the community battery supports more electrical demand. This allows homeowners to prioritize which circuits to remain on in the event of a blackout.

Individual homes cost from $482,00 to $570,000. A reasonable price for a self contained home that mitigates climate change and incorporates resiliency. Climate change now effects the cost of home ownership for new homeowners as the cost of flood insurance, wildfires risk and energy costs increase  the cost of owning a home in todays marketplace.