Georgetown Village Development

     When you think of the village lifestyle, you think of having all kinds of activities and places to go while living nearby. Georgetown, in the heart of Texas, tries to build on the village concept and succeeds. They incorporate a sense of history as well as awareness of one’s place on the Earth into their development.

     Georgetown, Texas is a small town located at the fork of the North and South San Gabriel River. Georgetown lies between the lush fertile farm land to the east and the hill country ranch land, called the Balcones Escarpment, to the west. The city was established in 1848 as a trading center for the surrounding agricultural area with each farm being self-sustaining. To this day, much of the town has been preserved through participation in the Main Street Project, which is a community effort to preserve the downtown area so that the town could grow economically as well as culturally. The town has several neighborhood developments such as schools, community center, and more. There is lots of mixed use development where residential development and commercial development grow nicely side by side. This practice is not only economically better for the community, but also is very eco-friendly as it reduces transportation and lessens the carbon footprint.

     What sets the Georgetown Village Development apart from similar projects is the building of green homes. The average home sends out about seven tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere each year for electricity use alone. The builder of the homes at Georgetown Village, Green Builders, wanted to improve on this. They also wanted to make the homes affordable and to preserve the cultural history of the town. They predict utility savings of 50% on their homes over homes of similar size in the same neighborhood, which they feel is a conservative estimate.

     The energy savings are done using various eco-friendly options in their homes. This is a list of some of what each home has inside:

     • Higher windows to maximize shade benefits of awnings and window treatments

     • Tank-less water heaters

     • Compact fluorescent lights (which will be replaced for free if they burn out in less than seven years)

     • Gutters and rainwater collection systems

     • Foam insulation to make the house air-tight

     • Aprilaire filtration systems to draw fresh, filtered, clean air into the home reducing allergens Green Builders’ homes were recently awarded an Energy Star rating from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. They are the only production builder in Texas that is currently building homes with so many green materials. They use as many recycled products as possible. The carpet is even recycled, made from water bottles rescued from landfills.

     The Georgetown Village Development has some green homes that are for sale starting from $200,000. Developments like this show that it is possible to have affordable housing, live well and live green.