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Updated: October 7, 2022
By: Kristina Zagame
An aerial view of Babcock Ranch, a solar-powered community in Florida. Jeffrey Greenberg / Education Images / Getty Images
Hurricane Ian caused mass destruction to Southwest Florida, taking dozens of lives and leaving millions without power. But in the midst of devastation, a small solar-powered community was left virtually unscathed — despite being just 12 miles northeast of hard-hit Fort Myers.
Babcock Ranch is a solar-powered town with roughly 2,000 homes and more than 700,000 solar panels. Homes and businesses in Babcock are built to be energy efficient and weather resistant, many of them constructed with durable insulated panels meant to withstand Florida’s extreme weather. Many residents have additional solar panels and solar battery systems as an extra layer of protection from power outages.
... “We have proof of the case now because [the hurricane] came right over us,” Nancy Chorpenning, a 68-year-old Babcock Ranch resident, told CNN. “We have water, electricity, internet — and we may be the only people in Southwest Florida who are that fortunate.”
... Jennifer Languell, a sustainability engineer who helped design Babcock Ranch, told NPR that “we felt you could develop and improve land, not just develop in a traditional way where people think you are destroying the land.”
By: Kristina Zagame
An aerial view of Babcock Ranch, a solar-powered community in Florida. Jeffrey Greenberg / Education Images / Getty Images
Hurricane Ian caused mass destruction to Southwest Florida, taking dozens of lives and leaving millions without power. But in the midst of devastation, a small solar-powered community was left virtually unscathed — despite being just 12 miles northeast of hard-hit Fort Myers.
Babcock Ranch is a solar-powered town with roughly 2,000 homes and more than 700,000 solar panels. Homes and businesses in Babcock are built to be energy efficient and weather resistant, many of them constructed with durable insulated panels meant to withstand Florida’s extreme weather. Many residents have additional solar panels and solar battery systems as an extra layer of protection from power outages.
... “We have proof of the case now because [the hurricane] came right over us,” Nancy Chorpenning, a 68-year-old Babcock Ranch resident, told CNN. “We have water, electricity, internet — and we may be the only people in Southwest Florida who are that fortunate.”
... Jennifer Languell, a sustainability engineer who helped design Babcock Ranch, told NPR that “we felt you could develop and improve land, not just develop in a traditional way where people think you are destroying the land.”
