Swamplot Archives by Tag: Solar Power

Friday, June 26, 2009

Solar-Powered Shipping Containers Flee; It’s Apartments for the Mirabeau B.

June 26, 2009 – 5:15 pm

Hey, what’s happening to those fancy solar-powered recycled shipping containers on the corner of Hyde Park and Waugh, meant to attract eco-minded buyers to the $400K+ condo units in the Mirabeau B.?

Up and away they go! Did the Mirabeau B. meet its sales target? Nope . . . but it’s time for construction anyway, developer Joey Romano tells Swamplot:

Our financing is in place and we have signed our contract with Mission Constructors who have commenced work on the site. If all goes to plan at the City, the building work will begin in the next few weeks.

How’d that happen? With a little switch: to rental. But Romano says none of the project’s “green” features will be changed:

We’ll still plant our green roof; our 15 KW solar PV system will still power all common areas; and our rainwater retention system will still irrigate our native Gulf Coast plants. Our units will be large, open, and spacious, offering unique, high-grade finishes, high-end energy efficient appliances, and natural light in every bedroom.

So where are the shipping containers headed?

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5:15 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Apartments, Buying and Selling, Condos, Development Strategies, Green Design and Development, Houston Architects, Neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Neighborhoods: Montrose, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing
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Monday, June 8, 2009

Texas Solar Sunset

June 8, 2009 – 1:19 pm

There’ll be no new Texas rebates for solar panels after all: That combined-solar bill that appeared to have support from legislators in both parties died at the end of the session from a procedural manuever.

In its last incarnation, the legislation would have given rebates over the next 5 years to Texas homeowners and businesses who install solar panels, and required electric companies to pay a fair market price for electricity pumped back into the grid by its solar-powered customers.

The only solar-related legislation that passed, according to Luke Metzger of Environment Texas, was a provision to let homeowners finance their solar installations with help from the local government, and pay back the cost via extra property taxes over 20 years.

1:19 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Utilities
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Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Latest on Houston and Texas Incentives for Solar Power

May 28, 2009 – 1:02 pm

A new single bill providing rebates over the next 5 years for Texas homeowners and businesses who install solar panels — and requiring electric companies to pay a fair market price for the excess electricity solar-powered customers generate — now appears likely to reach the governor’s desk.

The Chronicle’s Tom Fowler provides a local angle:

An installed residential solar system for a 2,100-square-foot home costs about $25,500, according to Houston-based Standard Renewable Energy. Existing federal incentives would knock about $7,650 off the price. In Austin, residents can get another $13,500 in incentives, in Dallas about $7,900, but Houston offers no such advantages.

1:02 pm | 7 Comments | Read more about Green Design and Development, Utilities
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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Green Sales Offices for Sale: Solar Powered Shipping Containers for Everyone

February 26, 2009 – 10:57 am

The solar-powered portable building fashioned from recycled shipping containers that’s been waiting patiently at the corner of Hyde Park and Waugh since last September isn’t just the sales office for the Mirabeau B. condo. It’s also a prototype.

Designers Joe Meppelink and Andrew Vrana of Metalab have teamed up with ttweak Renewables (creators of the Mirabeau B.’s sales graphics) and Harvest Moon (the condo’s developer) to market the structures, which they call SPACE. That stands for Solar Powered Attractive Container for Everyone — though more likely it’ll be for companies that want a sales center that also works as a big green sign.

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10:57 am | 3 Comments | Read more about Buildings for Sale, Green Design and Development, Houston Architects, Office Space, Real Estate Marketing, Utilities
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Friday, January 9, 2009

Pimp My FEMA Trailer

January 9, 2009 – 11:12 am

A few months after Ike, this tricked-out FEMA trailer rolls into Houston as . . . art?? Paul Villinski’s reworked 30-ft. Gulfstream “Cavalier” trailer, which took the artist 7 months to mod, will be parked outside the Rice University Art Gallery starting later this month.

Re-born as the Emergency Response Studio, the trailer’s formaldehyde-ridden original materials are replaced by entirely “green” technology and building materials, including recycled denim insulation, bamboo cabinetry, compact fluorescent lighting, reclaimed wood, and natural linoleum floor tiles made from linseed oil. It is powered by eight mammoth batteries that store energy generated by an array of solar panels and a “micro” wind turbine atop a 40-foot high mast. Not only practical, Emergency Response Studio is a visually engaging structure with an expansive work area featuring a wall section that lowers to become a deck. A ten-foot, elliptical geodesic skylight allows extra headroom and natural lighting in the work area. Though designed as an artist’s studio and residence, Emergency Response Studio is an ingenious prototype for self-sufficient, solar-powered mobile housing.

Party on the back deck!

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11:12 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Alternative Energy, Art, Attractions, Disaster Aftermath, Green Design and Development, Home Design, Manufactured Homes, Temporary Housing, Utilities
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Friday, July 18, 2008

And Just Imagine How Well They’d Do If There Were Jobs or Shopping Nearby!

July 18, 2008 – 3:34 pm
   

Discovery at Spring Trails, Land Tejas’s gated and solar-panel-badged community north of Spring, is selling well, says Lisa Gray: “. . . only a few weeks after Discovery put itself on the market, and without even a finished house that would-be buyers can tour, most of the lots ready for building have been optioned, and the developer is scrambling to make more available fast. In fact, Discovery is off to the fastest start of any development in the company’s 11-year history, and Land Tejas expects demand to pick up even more this fall. Already, propelled mostly by Google searches, 200 to 300 people a week are touring the neighborhood’s ‘Discovery Center.’” [Houston Chronicle]

3:34 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Alternative Energy, Development Strategy, Green Design and Development, Homebuilders, Homebuying, Land Development, Master-Planned Communities, Montgomery County, Neighborhoods: Discovery at Spring Trails, Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing, Sprawl, Utilities
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