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Home | COMMUNITY | Living Green

Living Green from the Outside In

It's hard to imagine a community that's greener than Starkey Ranch. About half of the community's 2,400 acres are devoted to lakes, ponds, wetlands and parks. To the north and east, our only neighbor is the 18,000-acre Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Preserve. At dawn and dusk the community feels like a bird sanctuary, with wood storks, herons, egrets, cranes out in profusion.

Reclaimed water is used for irrigation in parks, common areas and in individual yards. We employ leading-edge stormwater management techniques to protect the quality of our ground water.

All homes built in Starkey Ranch meet or exceed national standards for energy efficiency. From innovative building processes to insulation to high-efficiency heating and cooling, the builders are creating far more efficient green homes today than ever before. That’s good for your comfort, great for your wallet and even better for the environment. Ask each builder about their energy-efficience standards, and about the HERS Index on their home plans.

HERS stands for Home Energy Rating System, and is a scoring system established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) in which a home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home scores a HERS Index of approximately 100, while a net zero energy home scores a HERS Index of 0. The lower the HERS Index, the more efficient the home, which means you will save on your monthly energy bills.

HERS Index | Starkey Ranch Homes

Starkey Ranch Welcome Center Earns Florida Water Star Certification

The Starkey Ranch Welcome Center is the first community information center in the state to earns the Florida Water Star certification, a voluntary program designed to increase water efficiency in landscapes, irrigation, appliances and plumbing fixtures.

Inside the Welcome Center, reinforced water supply lines, low-flow toilets, high-efficiency faucets and an Energy Star® dishwater were installed. The landscape includes drought-tolerant plants that use less water, pesticides and herbicides.

Starkey Ranch worked with FWS-Accredited irrigation professionals Mark Ballenger and Gail Huff to design and install a water-efficient irrigation system composed primarily of low-volume or micro-irrigation. Only 20.5 inches of irrigation will be applied to the landscape annually, a 15% reduction compared to the permitted average of 29.6 inches.

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