Senior citizens in Austin, Texas, are doing their part to save the planet. Residents at retirement community Querencia at Barton Creek are recycling, conserving energy and powering up with solar energy.

Don Iburg heads up the community’s task force on energy issues and preserving natural resources. He says so many of his generation grew up during the Depression conserving money and everything else, so taking care of Earth's resources comes natural to them.

Querencia is one of several new green senior communities, a new niche for the green building movement. Developers Harris Interactive and Shea Homes are building similar green senior communities throughout Arizona, California, Florida and Washington that use solar panels, green building materials, energy- and water-efficient appliances technologies that use sensors to regulate weather patterns and outdoor and indoor conditions to maximize efficiency.

The residents of Querencia are taking conservation further by installing solar films on the complex windows, heating the swimming pool with solar power and promoting the local energy utility company’s wind-energy system. They say they are trying to preserve natural resources for their grandchildren.