In January 2024, I wrote a post about Hunter’s Point, Florida, on my Seeing like a Local Substack.

Hunters Point is an innovative 86-home community that is solar powered and net-zero plus and resistant to hurricanes and sea rise. In 2019, the Hunter’s Point model home – which allowed Pearl to monitor its electricity use over 18 months – became the first single-family home in the world to receive the LEED Zero Certification from USGBC. And it seems to be hurricane-proof.

Hunters Point is the “greenprint” for the future of clean energy homes and sustainable, cost-effective master-planned communities. So far it is the only LEED Zero-certified, sustainable community in Florida. On average, the houses generate 35% more power than they consume.

A study done with FSEC shows the homes “can generate a net positive percentage between 20% to 57%,” says builder Marshall Gobuty. At 57%, that means each home exports 8,000-kilowatt hour (kWh) back to the grid – equivalent to an average home’s electricity use for 266 days. Once all the houses are built next year, the reduction in carbon emissions will be equivalent to reforesting 16 acres annually.

More importantly, Pearl Homes’ work to make the houses hurricane proof has been vindicated, three times, Fast Company reports.

“Hurricanes were our number one priority,” says Gobuty. “How could we build to survive a Cat 5 hurricane?’

So his team “spent 18 months testing and tweaking the design of the first home inside a warehouse before beginning development,” Fast Company explains. Floors are connected together by steel straps, and the first floor is made of solid concrete. The builders used two-by-six lumber for framing and the gaps are filled with hard foam insulation. The roof is made of steel with raised vertical seams; solar panels are connected to the seams.

Since 2022, when the first residents moved in, the homes have survived three major hurricanes – Ian, Idalia, and now Helene. With Helene, a storm surge filled the streets of Cortez with waist-deep water near a new development and the grid lost power “but the new homes stayed dry and kept the lights on.”

The project is still under construction, with 31 homes completed of the 86 that will eventually be there.

Sources:

Saving money and the environment with green design. Seeing like a local, Jan. 8, 2024

When Hurricane Helene hit, this disaster-proof Florida neighborhood kept the lights on. Fast Company, Sep. 30, 2024

Cover photo: Pearl Homes