KEY POINTS
  • The master-planned Whisper Valley community near Austin, Texas, is built atop an enormous geothermal grid.
  • Geothermal heating and cooling is achieved by accessing the constant temperatures deep underground and then using water to circulate that temperature up above.
  • It will eventually power every one of the 7,500 homes planned for the development over the next decade.

From above, the 2,000-acre new housing development just outside Austin, Texas, looks much like any other. Each home has solar panels, but that's no longer uncommon.

But the Whisper Valley community is entirely unique thanks to what lies below. Far below.