Comments on: GEOS: The First Fossil Fuel Free Community in The USA!

By: lizbeth

lizbeth — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:47:17 +0000

if anyone is thinking about purchasing a solar home in the Geos Community (or anywhere), maybe you should consider an electric vehicle to drive the four miles to the bus stop. Contact http://YellowLineCars.org to convert your gas vehicle to electric. It’s a great form of recycling!

By: Scott72

Scott72 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:48:13 +0000

Google Maps indicates that this development is way out in the western edge of the Denver Metro area — and like others pointed out, I don’t see integrated land for growing food. Water is also an issue. This is not a sustainable community.

By: booboc

booboc — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:29:44 +0000

It looks like there is quite a bit of grassed park land which will require fossil fuel to maintain and no provision for growing food. Why not use the open land for food gardens, maybe along the lines of the UK’s garden allotments or a community Permaculture garden? Perhaps there are plans for shops and restaurants in those large industrial/commercial looking buildings that appear to be part of the plan. If so, they look to have plenty of parking places but no direct walking access from the residential areas.

By: Hugo_vogel

Hugo_vogel — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:10:47 +0000

Jenny Solar systems, Oberburg, Switzerland built recently a 3 store building with 6 apartements. A central cylindrical water store tank of 200 m3 is heated by thermal solar paneels and succesfully suplies all the needed heat energy during winter and also the hot water for sanitary use.

By: jeanX

jeanX — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:30:47 +0000

I am glad that you included Colorado, instead of sf, where it’s always Springtime,
but how about including some feasible urban neighborhoods,
where it gets really cold?
How about ‘do-overs’ on already existing homes?

By: kybrdplyr

kybrdplyr — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:59:15 +0000

Sometimes I think the information on this site has been cribbed from a publicist’s notes from the developers. “..future-forward communities such as these that are paving the pathway to a brighter future”? patrickmc has looked more dispassionately at Geos and addressed a major issue confronting such developments. There is NO WAY this is a “fossil fuel free community” if the nearest rail station is over four miles away and the nearest store 3/4 of a mile away. Yes, some people may walk or ride that distance to do their grocery shopping but it is not practical on the very hot or very cold days that are part of the year ’round conditions. So, let’s see some REAL “fossil free” communities that are, indeed, transit served as well as having great utility infrastructure.

By: patrickmc

patrickmc — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:50:59 +0000

While some aspects of the project may be sustainable, the transportation aspect is anything but. The site is not actually on a bus route and the closest 2 routes (each 1 mile away) are served by 20 buses per day, with peak hour service only and no service between 7:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The closest rail station (planned to open in 2016) is over 4 miles away on auto-centric suburban streets. There’s some mixed use planned for the site, but nothing the size of a grocery store (current closest one is 3/4 of a mile away). The current WalkScore rating is 25, clearly it would improve but a green home in the boonies is unlikely to be as green as an average home in a walkable, transit-served urban area unless it has great transit access (and this doesn’t and won’t).