Babcock Ranch: the US’ first solar town

By Sophie Chapman
Syd Kitson, the former NFL player has developed the US’ first solar town, dubbed Babcock Ranch. The Green Bay Packers an...

Syd Kitson, the former NFL player has developed the US’ first solar town, dubbed Babcock Ranch.

The Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys player purchased a large mass of land 30 miles from Fort Myers in 2005.

The majority of the land was sold to local government for wildlife preservation, but the remaining 20% - approximately the same size as Manhattan, New York – has been utilised to create a self-sustaining community.

Syd Kitson has successfully created a town that runs off 300,000 solar panels in a 440-acre plot – it creates no emissions and generates more energy than it uses.

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The town, which is expected to have a population of 50,000 people, features restaurants, stores, a school, and thousands of homes – all powered by renewable energy.

“We want to be the most sustainable new town in the United States,” Syd Kitson informed CBS News.

“We had the advantage of a green field, a blank sheet of paper. When you have a blank sheet of paper like this, you really can do it right from the beginning,” he added.

The town uses self-driving buses and bicycles as transportation, with the hopes of introducing autonomous cars in the future, and recycled water for irrigation.

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