Whisper Valley is a peek into what the future could look like.
The sweeping Manor, Texas, community is filled with modern homes, small, manicured lawns, quiet streets and rooftops outfitted with solar panels. Hidden beneath it is a network of pipes and man-made reservoirs that heat and cool hundreds of households via geothermal technology a source that currently provides less than 1% of the U.S. electrical demand.
When completed, Whisper Valley will consist of approximately 7,500 owner-occupied and rental homes and multi-family units ranging in price from $350,000 to $750,000; three schools, 2 million square feet of commercial space and 700 acres of park and outdoor community spaces. Habitat for Humanity is set to build affordable housing, which will hook up to the geothermal network.
Zac Turov, business development manager for EcoSmart Solutions, which runs the community's geothermal system, says savings on utility bills for residents here with geothermal-powered heat pumps that cool and heat buildings can run up to $2,000 a year based on a third-party verified Home Energy Rating System.
Michael Wilt has lived in the community for six years, moving into his three-bedroom, 1,800 square-foot house during the first phase of Whisper Valley's development.
He says he's never had utility costs higher than $70 during the summer months or $45 a month during the winter. That doesn't count the $60 monthly fee he pays to EcoSmart in operation fees.
"It absolutely works better than the HVAC system I had in the house that I was renting before purchasing the house," Wilt, 47, said.
"The geothermal system was definitely part of the appeal, but really it was kind of the entire agrihood' feeling of the whole development," he added, referring to places that are "intentional" about incorporating green infrastructure into the neighborhood and individual homes.
Developer Michael Thurman has built 30 of the more than 600 homes in this massive mixed-use development. And his company, Thurman Homes, is set to build up to 50 more. The community sits 15 miles northeast of Austin. It's an area home to multiple tech companies, including Google, Tesla, Dell, Samsung and Applied Materials.
The developer calls geothermal a "common sense" way to preserve the planet by cutting the use of fossil fuels to power the homes and businesses here. Heating, cooling and providing electricity to residential and commercial buildings accounts for about 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
But not all of the developers building in Whisper Valley tap into its geothermal system.
The reason, said Thurman, is "money."