Digg This
Talk Back
Post a CommentMost Recent Post
(Jan 6 2009 2:14PM)
Read all comments (2)
|
HousingZone Most Popular Stories
- Under the Radar: Military Housing
- Building Product Manufacturers Speak Out about Green Building
- 100 Best New Products 2009
- Sustainable Landscaping: the Next Step in Green Building
- How A K. Hovnanian High Performance Home Educates the Masses
- Builders: Faulty Appraisals Threaten Housing Recovery
- Remodeling market down, but remodelers expect recovery
- Making Small Projects Work for Your Remodeling Company
- Wood vs. Engineered Lumber
- Closet Systems
Great Green: The Hot Seller in Silicon Valley
High electricity rates make solar the way to go in California
Susan Bady, Senior Editor, Design
September 1, 2008
Professional Builder
 |
|
For aesthetic reason as well as performance, Pinn Brothers Fine Homes chose Energy Tile solar PV modules, which mimic conrete tiles and blend into the roof. |
Orchard Heights and Falcon Place, another Pinn Brothers community, are the first single-family neighborhoods in San Jose that are both solar-powered and LEED-certified. The builder is partnering with OCR Solar & Roofing of Vacaville, Calif., to install BP Solar's roof-integrated EnergyTile modules.
“EnergyTiles don't just sit on the roof — they become the roof,” says Aaron Nitzkin, vice president of OCR's solar division. “It's a roofing product that just happens to generate electricity.” The modules resemble concrete roof tiles and are embedded with solar technology.
“When buyers visit our models and see the installed system, they're fairly impressed,” says John Moniz, project manager for San Jose-based Pinn Brothers. Since Orchard Heights opened on March 15, 2008, 29 homes have been sold. Pricing ranges from $1.1 million to $1.3 million.
© 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
