To prove that sustainable, smart communities are indeed possible, Marshall Gobuty, the president and founder of Pearl Homes, is developing Hunters Point on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The 86-home community will feature solar-powered, net-positive homes that are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as LEED Platinum, along with LEED Zero. Forbes contributor Jennifer Castenson provides more detail on the community’s development below.
“We are excited that instead of expelling eight tons of C02 annually, our homes will positively impact the environment,” said Gobuty. “What we are doing has not been done—living clean, breathing quality air, having all the technology at your fingertips on your app, to know how much of your home you self-generated this day, week, or month. Our homeowners can say they self-generated 98% of their power, which is amazing.”
Pearl Homes used the ANSI/RESNET/ICC Standard 301-2019 CO2e Rating Index to quantify the homes' emissions, which showed zero greenhouse gases for the community. This standard is very comprehensive, including non-carbon greenhouse gases, like methane, in the calculation.
It also uses an hourly calculation, versus the more common annual calculator. Hourly calculations are made by bringing together the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s projections with the energy usage data that Pearl Homes gathers in the HERS Index. The HERS index score for the Hunters Point home is -13, whereas a new home built to code has about an 80 or 90 HERS rating.
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