Spring 2021 Issue - 49

S P I N E / V. I . H O U S I N G A U T H O R I T Y

doors that meet Miami-Dade County, Florida's exacting standards for withstanding wind-borne debris
were crucial items on his list for the Estate Donoe
redevelopment.
" It's a lot less expensive long term to build
appropriately, so that when these catastrophes do
occur, the buildings are resilient, " Jackson says.
But hurricane preparedness goes beyond merely
keeping buildings from being destroyed. Loss of
electricity and access to water adds to the potential
misery for residents of public housing. For that reason,
plans for the Donoe project also include a microgrid
designed to keep the development supplied with
power, even if the rest of the island goes dark.
" It's very green, very efficient, and can be operated remotely, " Jackson says.
In addition, a cistern on the property ensures a
supply of water, even if connections to outside utilities are shut off. Such redundancy, Jackson says, is
essential for resilience.
Gibbs, the renewable-energy expert on the ULI
panels, has worked in the Caribbean and says he is
pleased that the plans call for pairing solar energy
with a backup generator system. " My main concern
anywhere in the tropics is the damage that a hurricane can do to a solar array, " he says. " That's regardless of whether you have a mounting system that
can withstand 200-mile-per-hour [322 kph] winds.
The panels themselves can be struck by debris, and

things that can fall off a building will become projectiles at 180 miles per hour [290 kph]. "
While use of microgrids and renewable energy
in public housing is not entirely new-projects in
New York City and Chicago also have used the technologies-it is particularly promising in the Virgin
Islands, where it solves an additional problem:
expensive energy.
As Gibbs notes, the availability of cheap renewable energy will spare public housing residents from
ruinous utility bills. " The expense of electricity in
the Virgin Islands is beyond almost anywhere that
I've seen, " he explains. " The cost per kilowatt-hour
is exorbitant. " In 2020, the average price paid by
Virgin Islands residents was 41 cents per kilowatthour, about three times higher than the average
price in the 50 U.S. states, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration.
Indeed, according to a housing authority press
release, residents of the Donoe project will not have
to pay for electricity at all.
While installing such a system requires a substantial investment, Graham notes that the amount
of funding secured for the project made it feasible.
" We couldn't afford the energy efficiency before, "
he notes.
WRT, a Philadelphia- and San Francisco-based
architecture firm, provided the master planning for
the Estate Donoe project and designed its buildings
SPRING 2021

AFeature_Kiger_SP21.indd 49

Estate Donoe will include
a community building and
children's play area.

U R B A N LA N D

49

4/1/21 8:41 AM
Spring 2021 Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spring 2021 Issue
