Global Green News
Energy-efficient affordable housing
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. June 2, 2007.
POWAY – For Abby Indiongco-Magtoto, what's not to like about her new apartment where she's saving both money and the planet?
She saves on rent: Leases run, on average, 40 percent below market at Solara, the city of Poway's newest affordable-housing complex in the heart of town.
She saves on utility bills: There aren't any – not for Indiongco-Magtoto or any other Solara tenant. That's such a deal that even her 8-year-old son Jacob gets it. As the second-grader explained: “It's solar-powered, so the lights are free.”
 K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune
At Solara, which gets its official ribbon-cutting Tuesday, solar panels atop carports (above) convert the sun's rays into electricity that powers virtually the entire complex on Community Road near Poway Road.
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In Solara, Poway has built an environmentally pioneering low-income apartment complex that basically powers itself. Experts call it the first of its kind in the state, and possibly the nation: a green-built, government-financed, affordable-housing complex that's virtually climate neutral, constructed with minimum pollution and maximum energy efficiency.
Even the landscaping is edible; Solara's grounds include sage and rosemary and lemon trees.
Those involved with developing Solara say they wanted to achieve the important balance of providing solidly built low-cost housing to help their tenants, while at the same time making that housing ecologically friendly.
While Community Housing owns and manages 25 affordable-housing complexes countywide where they strive to save energy costs, Wilson said achieving climate neutrality was beyond its expertise. It hired as consultants Global Green USA, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit that combats global warming and nuclear proliferation.
Global Green spokesman Ted Bardacke said the organization helped find ways to make Poway's complex financially feasible, while still using the best materials and technologies available. It helped Community Housing solve problems such as where to find alternative air conditioners that don't run on ozone-depleting Freon, yet don't cost so much that they escalate the cost-efficiency of an affordable-housing project.
After the success with Solara, Bardacke said he's seeing its design become the new wave in public housing projects. His organization has been tapped to assist with several similar fully green projects in California and nationally.
The complex is first and foremost a haven for low-to moderate-income families. There's a staggering demand for affordable housing in high-rent San Diego County, where some 13 percent of workers earn less than $20,000 per year, while the median home price tops $550,000. There are 800 families on Solara's waiting list.
