Humans have always adapted to the environment around them. Whether it's living in unbearably hot deserts or the bone-chillingly cold tundra, managing geological events like earthquakes, or dealing with intense weather like hurricanes — we invariably find a way to adjust.
Deltec Homes was founded in the 1960s as a prefabricated home builder in North Carolina, building prefab homes offsite to be then shipped and assembled on the buyer's property. In recent years, it has focused its attention on creating hurricane-proof houses.
Extreme weather events — including hurricanes — have become more destructive in recent years. The overheating of our planet caused by burning dirty energy sources like coal and methane gas continues to have ripple effects.
That's where Deltec Homes comes into play. The company currently boasts houses that can withstand winds up to 190 miles per hour. But it's not stopping there, as it is now at work on a new model that can withstand winds of up to 225 miles per hour.
And if that wasn't enough, the Deltec production facility is powered completely by 273 solar panels, meaning that every house is built with 100% renewable energy. Deltec also designs its houses with vaulted ceilings optimized for solar panels, meaning that its customers can rely on clean energy, as well.
An unfortunate effect of the world's changing temperatures is that hurricanes are becoming more intense. As planet-heating pollution is absorbed by oceans, the warm ocean water combines with moisture in the air to produce bigger storms. And, considering that those temperature changes are caused by dirty energy sources like oil and gas, it's a big deal that Deltec is using clean sources like solar power to create its hurricane-proofed homes.
The secret to Deltec's hurricane-proofing is its houses' curvilinear shape, which the company says offsets wind pressure by around 30%.
That means that Deltec is protecting people from hurricanes while also making sure that its own efforts don't end up making hurricanes even worse — and that's a big net positive and a win for the planet.
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