On a recent Saturday afternoon, I took a drive to Whispering Valley to see for myself what a 2,000-acre planned community of sustainable design and innovation looks like. Located east of SH-130 Tollway on FM 973, Whispering Valley is seven minutes from Tesla’s Gigafactory, 12 minutes from Austin Bergstrom Airport and 25 minutes from downtown Austin. Once built out, Whisper Valley will include 5,000 single-family and 2,500 multi-family homes, retail space, restaurants, office parks, entertainment venues, two schools and a 600-acre park.
Whisper Valley is developed by Taurus Investment Holdings and Shell New Energies through its EcoSmart Solution, a green energy services provider that designs and delivers geothermal and other distributed energy resources infrastructures. According to its website: We seek to enable developers and builders of large-scale new construction neighborhoods to create energy-efficient communities and homes and provide new homeowners with affordable, comfortable, and sustainable living.
Currently, Whisper Valley is the largest sustainable development in the US to use geothermal power for all its residences and commercial buildings. In addition to the geothermal network, Whisper Valley homes and commercial buildings feature rooftop solar, EnergyStar rated appliances, smart home technology like NEST thermostats and Sense energy monitoring, smart materials use, equity, community and resilience. In addition, all homes are pre-wired for Level 2 electric vehicle charging. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, homeowners can take advantage of the 30% federal tax credit for their rooftop solar systems through 2032.
It’s won a slew of awards for its innovation in sustainable design and development from the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin, the Austin Green Awards, and the Austin Business Journal.
What’s it like to live at Whisper Valley? I caught up with two of its current residents who have been living in the community for the past year.
“We love it here,” said structural design engineer, Eric Feuge. “We’re leasing for a couple of years until Phase 6 in Village 1 is complete. Then we’ll buy.”
Feuge and husband Ben Miller have been wowed by the energy efficient features in the 1,900 square foot home.
“What’s so astonishing to us is our utility bills,” said Feuge. “Before living here, we lived in a 600 square-foot apartment in Austin and our utility bills here are exactly the same as that apartment! That says volumes about the kind of energy efficiency benefits at this home compared to what we didn’t have at the apartment.”
As a structural engineer, Fegue understands the philosophy of building fast versus building right. “There are always construction issues in large, planned communities,” he said. “It’s important to do it right the first time.”
What’s surprised Fegue and Miller the most about living at Whisper Valley is how quiet it is outdoors. “Since there aren’t any outside HVAC units cycling off and on, it’s amazingly quiet in the neighborhood,” he said. “We have exactly what we’re looking for.”