Two new communities are being built in the SF Bay Area, each unit coming standard with solar panels.

The communities are being built by Lennar Bay Area Homebuilding.

These communities feature Lennar’s SOLARplus program, which means they not only come with a solar system, but also energy-efficient appliances.

The first development is at Sonata at Dublin Ranch, a 67-home community, equipped with a roof integrated solar electric system from PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation as a standard feature. The solar energy systems in the Sonata and Centre Pointe homes can generate considerable savings on annual utility bills in addition to the current, one-time $2,000 federal tax credit. According to PG&E, homeowners will actually produce renewable power to help supply their own needs while protecting the environment. Any surplus power appears as a credit on the homeowner’s utility bill and reverts back to the PG&E power grid. PG&E then subtracts the energy supplied back to the utility from the consumer’s monthly bill. Unlike solar panels of the past, which were elevated above the roof, the SunPower suntile solar electric system integrates seamlessly into each home’s roofline. Rather than offering upgrades at an additional cost, Lennar researches what customers want in a new home and includes those items as standard features

While it might be a while before the suburbs are all solar-powered, it’s great to see these concept communities springing up, proving it’s both possible, and economically feasible, to have a green-powered home.

via Green Tech

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Pictured above is the new plug-in, fully electric Toyota Prius.

The prius hybrids have been all the rage recently, serving both as a status symbol and an important stepping stone to fully green cars.

This latest model, pictured with it’s charging station, will be fully non-reliant on traditional gasoline, and gets all it’s fuel from the power grid. No emissions.

Nice.

While talking about fully electric cars though it’s important to note that they do not actually eliminate emissions, they simply transfer them to the power plant. While this does little to cut actual emissions, it allows us to focus on improving power plant technology rather than improving the vast amounts of different engines (traditional, diesel, ethanol, etc).

It’s still exciting to see the fully electric vehicles coming however, it seems big business is finally taking them seriously!

via AutoblogGreen

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