Name: Ron Gaudet
Position: President
Business Name: White Oak Development, LLC
Industry: Home Building
What we do: White Oak Development builds energy sustainable residential communities.
Green activities: White Oak Development is building a green community in Colchester, CT (White Oak Farm) in which all homes are powered by solar and heated with geothermal. No fossil fuels are used in the development. The solar panels provide the electricity to power the geothermal unit and therefore there is not cost for heating or cooling. The homes are on the grid and excess electricity generated by each home is fed back into the grid through a net meter. The customer gets credit for the excess power generated and only pays for the net electricity used. All homes are Energy Star certified and receive over $20,000 in state rebate checks and over $20,000 in federal tax credits. When completed White Oak Farm will have 134 homes.
How long doing this: White Oak has been building green homes for two years now with12 homes being sold. Ron Gaudet, president of White Oak has been in the building business for most of his life. Ron’s father owned a successful home building business which he started 1951. Ron learned the building trade from his dad and worked along side of him for many years.
Why did you implement Them: It became apparent to me that as a country we need to be more aggressive in becoming an energy sustainable society. I wanted to do my part in pushing green technology in the home building industry and believed that if I built homes that took advantage of green technology and the financial incentives that were available from Federal and State programs that people would embrace the concept and buy our homes. If you take the rebates and tax credits into account the cost of a new green home is no more that a traditional new home.
Results: We have sold 12 homes in the last 24 months. Our customers are really enjoying our green community and are very excited about not paying a dime for heat or cooling. Our goal is to generate all our own electricity as a community and one day be totally off the electrical grid. Some new technologies will be needed to achieve this goal but we believe that they will be available within the next 5 years.
Advice: I encourage anyone who is thinking about implementing green technology to move forward with excitement but only after you have done your homework and have a detailed plan. Energy is the new frontier in our society following the industrial revolution and the computer age. Energy is where the next huge expansion will take place in our society and will transform our world into a whole new life we can’t even imagine. Green technology is the key to our future.
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