New California Community Offers Homes with Solar As Standard

Far West Industries recently opened the new mid-century modern community of Murano in Palm Springs, Calif., offering all new homes with solar as standard, in a partnership with PetersenDean Roofing & Solar and Canadian Solar.

The community recently held a grand opening and is now selling Phase 3. While many new home communities offer solar as an option, Murano is one of the few communities that offer solar as a standard feature on all of its homes, which include a variety of other green attributes.

Located within minutes of world-famous downtown Palm Springs, Murano features a wide range of new homes to suit buyers’ attention for detail along with many customizing options. With eight floor plans, or Palettes, ranging from approximately 2,188 to 2,671 square feet of living space and two-car garages. Some of the homes feature a detached guest house that is standard on most Palette 2′s. Each home features a pool, spa, and numerous top-of-the-line amenities. Everything has been thoughtfully selected to take the Murano home to the next level in style and comfort, including the various green living features.

The community has 42 homes with 4.0-kW Canadian Solar system on every home powered by what are considered some of the industry’s highest-efficiency solar modules backed by a 25-year linear product warranty and warranty insurance, offered by Canadian Solar.

“We are pleased to be selected by PetersenDean and Far West Industries for this exciting installation, which will directly help homeowners reduce their high electricity bills,” said Thomas Koerner, General Manager at Canadian Solar (USA) Inc. “This partnership demonstrates the solar energy’s power to make our daily lives richer through renewable energy and the importance of choosing high-performance solar modules with a proven track record” added Koerner.

The homebuyers have 4-kW on their homes as standard on every home. The estimated annual energy savings for a home with a 4-kW system is about $1,980 a year or $165 a month. Federal tax credits totaling about $2,500 are also available for most homeowners with solar roofing. Additionally, estimated 5 year savings can total up to $10,296.

“Far West Industries has made a commitment to use solar in all of its Coachella Valley new home communities and is pleased to partner with PetersenDean due to their proven track record for integrated installation knowledge and execution of quality roofing and solar installation which go hand in hand,” said Scott Lissoy, President, Far West Industries.

In addition to the solar panels, these homes offer a number of other green features such as tankless hot water heating system, drought-tolerant drip irrigation landscape system, variable speed pool pumps and Low-E glass windows, to name a few. Not only are the homes sustainable, they are stylish, Murano embodies a mid-century modern architecture with window shadow boxes and extended rooflines on the exterior. The interior of these homes also include Bosch stainless steel appliances, voluminous ceilings from room to room and sealed, polished concrete flooring in entry, kitchen, great room and dining room.

“As solar panel costs continue to fall, more and more builders like Far West Industries are offering solar as a standard feature. Consumers are asking for it and building codes are requiring energy efficiency and renewable energy products for new construction,” said Jim Petersen, founder of PetersenDean. “Solar power is a logical technology and is becoming so affordable that paybacks can be as low as three years.  After that the homeowner owns the power. As they say, ‘it’s the new granite countertop’ and people love their granite countertops. But a granite counter can’t pay your electricity bills, solar panels can. Plus, Palm Springs is an ideal place for a solar community; it has about 350 days of sun shine per year.”

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/new-california-community-offers-homes-solar-standard/]