Sacred Rocks Reserve and RV Park, the first campground in the U.S. to offer solar-powered park model homes to consumers, has scheduled an open house and Solar Education Day on Jan. 24 to show off these environmentally friendly products.
The park model homes are manufactured by Phoenix-based Cavco Industries, which has equipped its cabin- and cottage-style park models with solar panels and other eco-friendly custom features.
Sacred Rocks Reserve, a 148-site, privately owned campground on 163 acres located an hour’s drive east of San Diego, Calif., and three miles from the Mexican border, took possession of the two solar powered Cavco units late in 2008 and has been landscaping around the units in preparation for the open house.
“Our goal is to become the ‘greenest’ park in America, Sharon Courmousis, co-owner, told Woodall’s Campground Management.
“We think these units will be particularly appealing to consumers who want an affordable, environmentally friendly mountain retreat cottage,” she said.
Courmousis and her husband, Dimitri, placed the Cavco units in an area separate from the campground they call Sacred Rocks Mountain Homes, a 36-site section where they hope to place nothing but energy-efficient park models for sale.
“This will be a private, vacation getaway area, for people who buy there, to hike the reserve and use the amenities,” she explained.
“I just wanted something where people can be proud of their little vacation cottage or weekend getaway place and know they are being careful of the environment,” she said.
Prices for the solar powered park models offered at Sacred Rocks start at around $55,000, which includes the first year’s annual lease fee of $4,800.
The Courmousises, six-year owners of the park, figure their location is ideal for solar power. They’re at an altitude of 3,900 feet in California’s high desert and enjoy approximately 355 days of sunshine annually.
The park model units are equipped with solar panels that can save consumers anywhere from 25% to 75% on their utility bills. Cavco’s solar powered park models are designed to remain on the nation’s electrical grid, collecting power on sunny days, sending it into the grid, and generating credits for the consumer. “The savings can be tremendous because these units are used as weekend or vacation homes,” says Meredith McClintock, CEO of Ready Solar Inc., the Redwood City, Calif., company that provides the solar panels for Cavco’s park models.
The park models are just one example of the couple’s efforts to be environmentally conscientious. They encourage conservation of natural resources in all aspects of the park.
The solar presentation is scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m. on Jan. 24, to be followed by a Q&A session. The park owners, Cavco and Ready Solar Inc. are co-hosts for the event.
For more information on this event, go to www.sacredrocksreserve.com or contact Sharon Courmousis at (619) 766-4480 or sacredrocks@gmail.com.
For more information on Cavco’s park models and solar energy systems, contact Tim Gage at (602) 763-5488 or Meredith McClintock at Ready Solar Inc. at (650) 299-9854, or visit their respective websites at www.cavcoparkhomes.com and www.readysolar.com.
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