The Sun Powers New-Home Sales

By Michael Balchunas

If it's tough trying to keep up with the Joneses, try keeping up with the Delgattos.

After six months in their new solar-powered home at Harmony at CenterStone Estates in Fontana, Calif., their electric bills total a whopping 92 cents.

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM
A 2.3-kilowatt solar array is barely visible on the back roof of a new home at Harmony at CenterStone Estates.

And that was the first month's bill. "We haven't paid a dime since," says Patricia Delgatto, who works as a human resources director in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia.

"We're not living like moles in the dark," Mrs. Delgatto says. "Our house is 2,200 square feet, and we're running computers and we have a TV. But we're living virtually free from an electricity standpoint, even during the hot-weather season."

While the housing-market decline has left plans for many new-home communities in California and across the United States dormant, workers are still driving nails and sawing wood at Harmony. They also are installing solar roof tiles, which come standard with a new home, along with a variety of other energy-efficient and environmentally friendly features.

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM

New-home subdivisions with solar-electric arrays and other "green" design elements have been on the rise for years in Northern California, but have lagged somewhat in sunshine-drenched parts of Southern California like Fontana, which is about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Hal Woods, president of privately owned CenterStone Communities, thinks that is now changing.

"We are the bestselling project in the market right now," he says. "All of our Phase 1 and Phase 2 are sold out. We expect to have the project complete in the spring of 2010. A number of other builders are scouting us and looking at the success that we’ve had."

The Harmony project consists of 56 lots with houses ranging from about 2,200 to 3,400 square feet. Among its many conservation attributes, the concrete that is used incorporates recycled fly ash from coal plants. Insulation exceeds requirements, plumbing fixtures are water-conserving, the landscaping is drought-tolerant, and rainwater-collection barrels are available for roof runoff.

"We wanted to differentiate ourselves from the market," says Mr. Woods, whose company has built homes in Nevada as well as California. "We think there's an emerging market for the higher-technology features like solar-electric systems. The solar systems are an integral part of our designs, and they work in concert with all of the other energy-efficient elements that go into the house."

Solar-electric tiles like those used at Harmony and other new-home developments are a relatively recent market innovation. Unlike traditional solar modules, which often are made to stand off several inches from the roof surface and may be attached using brackets and rails, solar tiles are used in place of regular flat concrete or S-shaped tiles, and are nailed through furring strips directly into the roof. A thermal barrier between the roof and the tiles helps to prevent heat buildup in the attic, says Ken Norman, CenterStone's project superintendent.

Solar photovoltaic tiles similar to the type being installed in Fontana are each about 5 feet long and about 1.5 feet wide. A tile of that size may weigh about 5 pounds per square foot, according to manufacturers' specifications. The sunlight-converting semiconductor material may be one of several types; the Harmony systems are currently using a polycrystalline silicon product. Like other solar PV products, they are tested to withstand the impact of hailstones of 1-inch diameter at 50 mph.

The tiles can be walked on, although that is best avoided. Most manufacturers' tiles meet Underwriters Laboratories standards for solar PV module and roofing systems. Major manufacturers of flat solar tiles include SunPower, BP Solar and Suntech. U.S. Tile and SRS Energy apparently are producing a new S-type photovoltaic tile, shaped like the Spanish-style tiles common on roofs in the Southwestern U.S.

Dow Chemical has announced plans to manufacture a flat solar-photovoltaic shingle to be installed alongside common asphalt shingles. That product is expected to become available in late 2010 and in greater quantities in 2011, the company says.

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM

A standard solar array at Harmony has a peak capacity rating of 2.3 kilowatts, and residents can choose a larger system as an option. The tiles are warranted to produce at least 80 percent of their rated peak power output for 25 years. The tiles used at Harmony have a colored epoxy-coated edge, so that when viewed from ground angles, they often blend in with a roof's regular flat concrete tiles. Visitors may not realize that the project's homes have solar-electric systems unless they're told about it. Some new owners haven't been shy about doing that.

"Our owners are our best ambassadors," says Mr. Woods. "An important part of this approach is that a solar-electric system creates interaction with the homeowner. Unlike with some energy-efficient aspects of homes, this is something they know about, because they can see the energy savings from month to month."

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM
Solar tiles, not yet washed, are installed flush next to cement tiles.

Michelle Parker and Derek Cruz, sales consultants at Harmony, say that although the homes' environmentally friendly features are of interest to many prospective buyers, the savings from the solar system are a key advantage likely to help seal a deal.

"With the solar-electric systems, it's often about 'How much am I going to be saving on a monthly basis?'" Ms. Parker says. "There are many people who are environmentally minded who are attracted by the conservation features of the homes, but in today's economy, with a growing family, cash flow is often at the top of their minds."

The Delgattos came to Harmony by accident, Patricia Delgatto says.

"We were driving by with our real-estate agent and we saw the sign that said 'solar homes' and we said, 'Let's see what that is.' Now that we're here, we love it," she says. "We thought we might cut our electric bill in half. You don't realize what the impact of the savings is going to be until you get involved in it. We have 19 windows in the house and the natural light is tremendous – we rarely need to use any lights in the daytime. There are a lot of energy efficiencies in the home that enhance the solar aspect."

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM
A website allows Harmony owners to check on solar production.

The U.S. government and private industries have been nudging the country toward a new approach to energy use since the early years of the administration of President George W. Bush. "I believe we need to leapfrog the status quo and prepare for a future that under any scenario requires a revolution in how we produce, deliver and use energy," then-Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said in a major 2003 policy speech in Europe. The same year, solar-electric modules made by U.S.-based Evergreen Solar were quietly installed on an outbuilding on the White House grounds.

The U.S. Department of Energy about the same time began promoting the idea of new zero-energy homes, which would generate as much energy as they use, produce zero emissions, and result in "zero complaints (from homebuyers)," according to a 2003 DOE report. The housing market's decline has postponed widespread construction of such homes, but many industry observers believe that when the market revives, new housing developments with solar-electric arrays and other energy-efficiency features will rise sharply.

About 20 miles north of downtown San Diego, a green-oriented housing development called Del Sur, which when finished will include about 3,000 homes on about 4,700 acres of the former Black Mountain Ranch, is now about one-quarter complete. The project got under way just as the housing market tanked in California, but the market has recently shown signs of reviving. Six different homebuilders are involved in the project, which includes solar-electric systems and other environmentally friendly elements.

"The master developer established 'green conditions,'  so that at least 20 percent of the homes will have solar," says Jan Percival, a spokeswoman for Del Sur. "Some builders are putting more than that up, sometimes up to 40 percent solar." A new school, Del Sur Elementary, gets part of its electricity from a 40-kilowatt solar array dedicated in November 2008. Plans have also called for solar installations in the parking lots of affordable apartments, she says. So far, homeowners have been receptive, she adds.

"The residents are so happy. One family had an electric bill of just $30 and they were ecstatic about it," Ms. Percival says.

Last year, Fred Maas, president and CEO of Black Mountain Ranch, the master developer of Del Sur, said: "By making it easy for homebuilders and homebuyers, we're expanding use of residential solar power. Developers all over the United States should be doing this."

A year later, it appears that they are doing it, or soon will be. Many nationally active homebuilders, including Lennar, Shea, Pardee, Pulte, Hovnanian and others, have new solar-home developments on the drawing boards, completed or under construction. In New Jersey, the state legislature this year approved a bill requiring new-home developers to offer solar installations to prospective buyers. In Florida, a proposal for a new solar-powered city called Babcock Ranch appears to be slowly moving forward.

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM
The tiles used at Harmony have a 25-year power-output warranty.

Mr. Woods, an avid fisherman in his spare time, says plans for CenterStone's next development, of about 130 homes in Highland, Calif., call for solar arrays to be offered as an option along with other energy-efficient features. "I think designing houses with a near-zero carbon footprint is a big part of our future," he says.

Patricia Delgatto says she and her husband commend Harmony's management for the way their home was built. "We feel we are state-of-the-art," she says.

Down the street from the Delgattos' new home, Ken Norman, the project superintendent, is overseeing a worker's installation of cement roof tiles around a recently completed solar-tile array. The solar-electric tiles are made to stay put in winds of over 100 mph, he says, which is important because gusts from the Cajon Pass north of Fontana sometimes approach that velocity.

Mr. Norman, whose graying hair peeks out from beneath a broad-brimmed hat in the relentless midday sun, says he has built many houses in this region over a long period of time. Does he think the solar arrays he's putting up now are more than a passing fad?

"Oh, yeah," he says. "It's the future."

Published September 2009

Michael Balchunas, a free-lance writer, is a former editor and reporter at newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and The Hartford Courant.