By educating our community and ourselves about green building practices, we can build more efficient, well-located homes. In this way we conserve natural resources, protect the environment, and serve our primary mission, to build and improve homes, neighborhoods, communities and lives.
Mountain Housing Opportunities has long been committed to providing housing that is not only affordable but environmentally sustainable. MHO’s green activities span across our three active departments: community investments (rental development), homeownership, and emergency home repair.
Our community investments department recently developed the Glen Rock Depot, a LEED Gold mixed-use building with 60 apartments over 9,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. All of the 26 new single-family homes that our Self-Help Homeownership department has built meet Green Built NC, a statewide green building standard. Our emergency home repair division also uses Green Built NC’s energy and water efficiency standards when selecting new equipment, fixtures, and appliances.
East Haven has an 18kW photovoltaic system consisting of 46 solar panels, installed in 2020. In 2021, this system generated almost 25 MWh of renewable energy, equivalent to removing 20 tons of CO2 emissions or planting 300 trees.
Eagle Market Place has a 47kW photovoltaic system consisting of 119 solar panels, installed in 2021. Maple Crest Apartments at Lee Walker Heights has 4 separate photovoltaic systems with a combined size of 176 kW consisting of 415 total solar panels, installed in 2022.
MHO has recently expanded green practices by incorporating solar photovoltaic panels into a few of our newest properties. With the help of local partners, we have added solar panels to East Haven Apartments, and Maple Crest at Lee Walker Heights. All apartment units are also Energy Star Multifamily rated, helping to save energy costs. All of these renewable energy systems create environmental and economic benefits for our community and the residents we serve.