Here are notes and links used in the planning of a development of Whitney View Homes, a 60 unit residential tract to be built in Ridgecrest, California, on the southern slope of the Indian Wells Valley.

A useful list of readings for owners who want to build.

An inventory of green homebuilding systems.

A green desert home. Bathrooms should be closer together. Master Bath with tub windows should be behind the trellis instead of fully exposed. What is the angular difference between winter sun and summer sun? 23.5 degrees (22.5 = 90/4). How is summer overheating minimized beyond the awning?

Wall construction for reduced energy costs are studied here. Massive walls reduce energy consumption in general, but most of all in US climates similar to Bakersfield, Phoenix, and Miami. If C means concrete, I means foam, then, going from outside in, CIC and IC walls are better than ICI and CI, walls, which are better than lightweight walls (stick framing). With CIC or IC walls in Bakersfield, whole-house energy costs are reduced by 18%.

Ridgecrest satellite imagery:
1 ft resolution: Andrea:D:/TV Personal/MomEstate/kern1ft_index.pdf indexes to ChL-L069s.
3 m resolution Andrea:D:/TV Personal/MomEstate/kern3m_index.pdf indexes to kern-203.

Whitney View Creosote Rings: NE corner of lot, 4th brush clump from the East side, 2nd clump up from the North side, looks to be three to five clumps with a space in the middle, perhaps constituting a creosote ring. Because of the rocky nature of the soils, these are slower-growing, slower-expanding rings, according to Peter Woodman, and therefore older than those which may occur in sandy areas.