Babcock Ranch, SW Florida’s Residential Solar Eco-Concept City
Photo Credit: One
There’s a new game in the development industry: eco-cities. Cities that are built sustainably with electric car charging stations, 100% renewable energy, greenways, green, green and more green if you’re thinking of what it will probably cost to live there. Of course, who can complain about a new developer acquiring what was a ranch and actually doing something non-Floridian with it?
Enough of the devil’s advocate. This new city, designed by Kitson and Partners, is to be built on 18,000 acres in SW Florida just east of Fort Meyers. The original purchase tract of the Babcock Ranch was 91,000 acres, but thanks to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, over 80% of that land has been preserved to remain as a much needed watershed and recreational area.
This new development looks very nice in theory and digital concept renditions. However, what is the likelihood of the whole thing coming together? Time.com says that most of it is already secured since Kitson and Partners have acquired the land to build on, even with the bulk of the land left to conservancy. Of the 18,000 remaining acres, only half will be used by Kitson and Partners for the actual building. The rest will be a greenway.
The power for the city is to be provided by Florida Power & Light, which plans to build a 75-megawatt solar farm nearby. The solar farm is estimated to save 61,000 tons of carbon emissions per year and will be built to expand with the city.
Six-million square feet of retail, 19,000 initially built homes and a goal of leading global experimentation for solar living is the dream being chased by Kitson and Partners. The city is set to expand well beyond the 19,000 as green energy companies begin moving in and offering high-paying jobs, or at least that’s the hope.
On the downside, Florida is economically challenged and so chalk-full of subdivisions that it’s rather boring to even look at. The bottom line is that the facility will have to pay for itself. According to Times, “At $4 million per megawatt, FPL estimates the cost to its customers at about 31cents per month over the life of the project — it should be more than four times as cost-effective as the nuclear reactors FPL is trying to build near the Florida Keys.” I would be genuinely surprised if reality equals prediction.
I do want to see eco-cities and I agree with the concept. I have my leanings toward a few good points made on Treehugger.com, such as, why build new when revamping will do? I’m not sure either. Regardless, this is a big step in the right direction with a big financial commitment toward making it happen and that is definitely a positive worth reporting.
Take a virtual tour of the Babcock Ranch here.
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Posted on October 16th in Going Solar by Craig.