As a former resident of Florida for 15 years with much of my extended family still there, including Fort Myers, my heart goes out to everyone. My daughter brought to my attention the town of Babcock Ranch, just 12 miles northeast of Fort Myers with 5,000 residents, which survived hurricane Ian with no loss of power, no loss of water, no flooding, not a single shingle missing, and only minimal damage—a traffic light and a few signs and palm trees down. This, of course, was not by accident.
Back in 2004, my family had to endure Charley, Frances, and Jeanne, all hitting us in quick succession. Fortunately, Ivan missed us. From my rooftop on a hill, I surveyed homes as far as the eye could see with blue tarps, plywood, gaping holes, most of the trees gone, and flooding impacting many, including my immediate neighbors. We knew friends that went without power and water for many weeks, which seemed unusual as we were in the same small town with a Florida Power & Light Power Plant.
This was nothing compared to the devastation Ian delivered, and a year or two from now, when the destruction is not in the news, I can tell you it will still be a wreck. So, how did Babcock Ranch survive?
Babcock Ranch was built with sustainability in mind. Babcock Ranch is primarily a solar community powered by 650,000 photovoltaic panels operated by Florida Power & Light, with the power plant and grid located within the town. It can deliver power to 50,000 people living in 19,500 homes and six million square feet of commercial space. Excess capacity feeds back into the grid to power surrounding communities. At night, natural gas generators fill the gap.
Another interesting aspect of Babcock Ranch is it’s not an exclusive gated community but a real town with parks, trails, native plants (as a former Floridian, I’d lose the grass), a downtown, and over half the population are young families. The Babcock Ranch community appears to be a good footprint for future developments. This is a lesson for all of us in our rush to innovate and get things done. Are we building products with sustainability in mind? Babcock Ranch certainly did.
Read more about the Babcock Ranch here: CNN, 2022
Let me know what you think!
Mark
