Climate Tempered Communities are ‘GREEN’ Communities
A CTC community provides more than a great way to experience ‘outdoor’ living all year long. CTC projects produce their southern ‘micro-climates’ within the enclosed concourses by using a high level of energy efficiency, and offer many sustainable energy design elements. At a time when energy costs and sustainable living is on the minds of many buyers, a CTC offers many reasons for a homeowner to feel justifiably proud about their purchase.
It should be noted that a CTC does NOT offer a CONTROLLED climate environment. The absolute control of a living space to ‘shirt sleeve’ levels requires a lot of energy. Instead, as the name implies, the object of the CTC is simply to TEMPER the environment to make it more tolerable and enjoyable during all seasons.
Even the people in Tuscon, Arizona or St. Petersburg, Florida will occasionally put on light jacket in the middle of the winter, because the temperatures there can drop – occasionally even below freezing. Conversely, in summer months these residents may find the outside ‘too hot’, and will look for shady or air conditioned spaces.
Residents of a CTC will develop a similar approach to winter and summer days. Depending on the weather during winter, the enclosed area will sometimes get chilly, and a light jacket will be called for. But unlike the south, some CTCs will offer ‘supplemental heating’ to keep the concourse above freezing most of the time, in order to protect the investment in landscaping and species plantings.
And unlike the southern climate residents who can’t do much about the heat, the retractable roof of a CTC can open in warm weather, keeping the concourse interior at a more comfortable temperature. Of course, even with the roofs and doors open there are still some days when the northerners will head for the air conditioning!
Not all developers of CTC projects will elect to include all possible energy features, but there are some ‘green’, sustainable design elements that are common to all CTCs.
Passive Solar Energy
At the most basic of levels, a CTC functions as a large solar energy collector. When closed, the retractable, transparent and translucent roofs capture a large amount of ‘passive’ solar heat which becomes the primary heating source for the enclosed sunspaces.
In fact, on many days more energy is captured from the sun than is needed for heat at the time. This is where the landscape design of the CTC’s enclosed sunspaces serves an important function. The interior design uses such elements as stone and concrete paths, waterways and fountains, adobe or stucco facades, and other such ‘thermal masses’ to absorb and ‘store’ excess solar heat. Then, at night this thermal mass releases its heat to the concourse, ‘tempering’, or warming the enclosed space for the occupants.
This process works even on cloudy or overcast days, although to a lesser extent. Have you ever gone to the beach on an overcast day and forgotten to put on your sunblock? Some of the worst sunburns are caused on overcast days. This is because the clouds do not block all of the solar energy from reaching the earth’s surface. Even during complete overcast 10-20% of the solar energy still reaches us. For this reason a CTC enclosure will still receive a large amount of energy from the sun – even on cloudy days.
On cold days when the enclosed concourse is being heated by the sun, the occupants of the living units may even use the passive solar heat being generated by simply opening their windows and sliding glass doors to the warmer concourse area.
In colder months the enclosed CTC will also benefit from the increased level of moisture in the concourse. Winters are known as a time of ‘dryer air’, or reduced humidity levels. The waterways and fountains of the CTC will serve to increase the level of humidity when the roofs are closed, making a 50 degree day seem more like 55 or 60 degrees. This also carries with it a number of health benefits.
When heating is not required, the retractable roofs and end walls of a CTC open and provide a means of natural ventilation of the enclosure. This reduces both the heat and moisture content of the structure during periods where it would be objectionable. The open roofs and end walls form a ‘chimney effect’ that naturally vents the concourse.
Proprietary computer algorithms, or programs, have been designed especially for CTC communities in order to control the automatic opening and closing of the retractable skyroof sections, with a manual override available to the homeowners association. Unlike simple thermostat controls, these programs have been designed to anticipate the need for storing excess solar energy at different times of the day and year.
Natural Water Retention
The large amount of species flora found within the concourse is watered by reusing the rain water and snow melt that comes off of the retractable roofs. Large, underground ‘cisterns’ are used to store the majority of this water for use as needed for irrigation purposes. Not only does this greatly reduce the amount of town or well water needed for irrigation, but it also reduces the electrical energy used to pump and distribute this water.
Other Energy Features
Other energy features of CTCs may include the following, depending on the local developer:
Photovoltaic solar arrays to produce electricity for grounds and landscape lighting,
Solar hot water systems used to service the living units. Locating these units within the enclosed concourse allows heat to be captured that would otherwise be wasted
Ground water heat extraction, which uses the geothermal heat of the earth to add heat to the enclosed concourses
On-site wind turbines used to produce electricity for use by the living units
High-level insulation of all living units.
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