Babcock Ranch: the US’ first solar town
Syd Kitson, the former NFL player has developed the US’ first solar town, dubbed Babcock Ranch.
The Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys player purchased a large mass of land 30 miles from Fort Myers in 2005.
The majority of the land was sold to local government for wildlife preservation, but the remaining 20% - approximately the same size as Manhattan, New York – has been utilised to create a self-sustaining community.
Syd Kitson has successfully created a town that runs off 300,000 solar panels in a 440-acre plot – it creates no emissions and generates more energy than it uses.
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The town, which is expected to have a population of 50,000 people, features restaurants, stores, a school, and thousands of homes – all powered by renewable energy.
“We want to be the most sustainable new town in the United States,” Syd Kitson informed CBS News.
“We had the advantage of a green field, a blank sheet of paper. When you have a blank sheet of paper like this, you really can do it right from the beginning,” he added.
The town uses self-driving buses and bicycles as transportation, with the hopes of introducing autonomous cars in the future, and recycled water for irrigation.
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