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In 2006, the California Global Warming Solutions Act was passed, requiring green building practices to be incorporated into land use and urban development designs. These practices are one of the things that set new homes apart from those that are decades old.

Consider Brandywine Homes’ new development in La Mirada, for example. In 2011, Brandywine Homespurchased the site of a former strip mall that had been demolished in 2008 in La Mirada to be the location of The Orchards, a development of 42 single family homes. Because sustainability is important to Brandywine Homes, the city of La Mirada, and the people of California, The Orchards homes — on their re-purposed site — have been built with a number of green features. Some of those features include an energy efficient tankless water heater, “Low E” dual glazed windows, increased insulation, low flow plumbing fixtures, and additional energy efficiency in the air conditioning and heating units, as well as the fluorescent task lighting.

The organization Sustainable Redevelopment defines sustainability in development as the ability for the current generation to meet its everyday needs without sacrificing the ability for future generations to also meet their everyday needs. The use of green building practices not only slows the negative impacts of development to the environment, but it actually can reverse some of those impacts. We believe that providing efficiency in our new homes isn’t an amenity, it’s a responsibility.

In 1994, Brandywine Homes founder, Jim Barisic, developed a business plan to help older, established communities revitalize their neighborhoods and convert underutilized, rundown areas into housing. And we’re still doing it. For more information about The Orchards in La Mirada or other Brandywine Homes developments, contact us.