Drake Landing Solar Community

Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada is a brave pioneer and leading example of sustainable neighborhood design. It is the first neighborhood built in North America that uses solar power for up to 90% of its heating needs. Equipped with 800 garage-mounted solar panels, it provides 1.5 mega-watts for 52 houses. It has 2 short-term storage tanks for immediate needs and 144 long-term storage bore-holes that run 37 meters deep and keep glycol warm even in cold Canadian winters. Solar pales absorb Sun's energy and heat glycol, which is then pushed by pumps through heating coils of air-handling units mounted in each house basement. Using air-handling unit's fan, mixed outside and return air are then run over the heating coil and delivered to rooms through a system of ducts.
Visit their web site to explore this amazing achievement. You can find there more detailed description of how the system really works, how it is built and updates about how it is performing so far. Also, you'll find very good video about the idea and concept that drove design of this neighborhood.

Location: Okotoks, Alberta. 51.1 deg N, 114 deg W, 1084 m elevation
Weather: Winter -27.4 F; Summer 82.9 F DB/60.1 F WB
Web Site: http://www.dlsc.ca