Regarding the Drake's Landing fiasco I found this tidbit, "It is billed as the first solar powered subdivision in North America, although its electricity and transportation needs are provided by conventional sources." The project cost $7 million and only provided heat. Until they got their central heat reservoir fully charged, ATCO Gas (an Alberta-based natural gas distribution company) fixed heating costs at $60 per month for the homeowners at the Drake Landing Solar Community. And now it cannot be repaired? Oh and I found this gem, "Even if the project had failed, ATCO Gas would have replaced the special hot-water furnaces with traditional natural gas ones. There was limited risk to the homeowners and this encouraged them to support the project." I guess ATCO Gas is going to have to unass 52 (that's all the homes in the project) natural gas water heaters. By my (admittedly rough) calculation, the per-home cost was a tidy $134,615. Homes sold for an average of $134,615 each. According to the Wikipedia article a follow on project would need 200 - 300 homes to achieve economies of scale. Guess that's out the window now.
Regarding the Drake's Landing fiasco I found this tidbit, "It is billed as the first solar powered subdivision in North America, although its electricity and transportation needs are provided by conventional sources." The project cost $7 million and only provided heat. Until they got their central heat reservoir fully charged, ATCO Gas (an Alberta-based natural gas distribution company) fixed heating costs at $60 per month for the homeowners at the Drake Landing Solar Community. And now it cannot be repaired? Oh and I found this gem, "Even if the project had failed, ATCO Gas would have replaced the special hot-water furnaces with traditional natural gas ones. There was limited risk to the homeowners and this encouraged them to support the project." I guess ATCO Gas is going to have to unass 52 (that's all the homes in the project) natural gas water heaters. By my (admittedly rough) calculation, the per-home cost was a tidy $134,615. Homes sold for an average of $134,615 each. According to the Wikipedia article a follow on project would need 200 - 300 homes to achieve economies of scale. Guess that's out the window now.