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Quarry Village will be the most sustainable, environmentally friendly community ever built in the East Bay. Among the environmental benefits:
Energy:
- Roofs will have solar panels for electricity and solar heat panels for hot water and space heating.
- Buildings will have passive solar design, based on high-insulation walls and ceilings, thermal windows, air-tight construction, air exchangers, and other measures to manage heat while preventing indoor air pollution
- The design avoids the need for any separate air-conditioning equipment.
- Appliances will have Energy Star rating for high efficiency.
- About 40 percent of American energy use comes from driving. Dramatically reduced car use saves energy.
Greenhouse gases:
Our society offers us few ways to take personal responsibility to reduce our role in global warming. Quarry Village offers a compelling opportunity to act on our values, consistent with our pocketbooks and our need to travel. We can reduce our planetary burden by 60 to 80 percent, and blaze a path for others to follow. If you have reached your moral moment, join us.
Other Pollution:
- Pollution is related to fossil fuel use for energy, so the savings in energy in housing and transportation are matched for air and water pollution.
- Storm water will not pollute the Bay, but be used for landscaping, directly and through an on-site storm water retention pond which will function naturally.
Water:
Efficient plumbing and dishwashers, native California landscaping which needs little water and resists drought, watering based on soil moisture measurement, reuse of "grey water," an on-site storm water pond, and less washing of cars and streets—all these significantly reduce water use.
Materials:
Homes in Quarry Village will be "green building" certified to be made from environmentally friendly materials.
Noise:
Quarry Village offers an oasis from traffic noise. Within buildings, each home will have special-sounding proofing in the walls between units.
Open Space and Wildlife:
"Recycling" 30 acres of abandoned quarry saves land from sprawl development. At a density of four houses per acre, sprawl would consume 250 acres for the same thousand homes.
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