What of people just walking at the mall or around your property could generate electricty/- green sidewalk makes electricity in UK http://bit.ly/tRIWaE
Northwind Perennial Gardens is doing the landscape planning for the Inn. Their goal is to make it beautiful but also sustainable and low need for watering and weeding. Roy Diblik has worked on Millenium Gardens in Chicago along with gardes for the art museum and Shedd Aquarium. Roy approches landscape and gardens just as we look at Holistic Energy Systems, you could call his Holistic Gardens.
This short video will give you some of the design basics and ideas. There is no limit to what can be done when we start to think out of the box and collaborate to create synergy. http://youtu.be/mcTJXz_ohVw
Technically it was sparkling wine but I digress. Actually the hot tub we bought in 1998 has been the best investment I ever made. It hasn’t appreciated in value but it has been the inspiration of ideas that built our energy company and fortold the development of the Green Leaf Inn. A hot tub strips away everything so Catherine and I could share ideas and dreams. No cell phones, computers or distractions- just two people in a hot tub sharing, talking and enjoying each other. That is the experience for every guest at the Green Leaf Inn with a two person hot tub in every room. But I digress again…
Today we were looking at our aerobic waste water treatment system and our mound system that does the final filtering of the water before it goes back to the aquifer. There are limits to what you can put on the mound system becasue you do not want compaction. Catherine has already planned and enlarged chess set in an area that is safe. Catherine is thinking about plantings and I am thinking about energy. Actually, Catherine was wondering where she could move her strawberries, blueberry bushes and grow organic produce for the Inn. The area where the mound system is was all shaded but now is some of the best sunny areas that exist on the property. I suggested raised garden beds on the mound area for the organic produce and an idea was born. Then I thought about the open areas and saw a huge opporutnity for solar as the backdrop to the chess set and organic produce! Community Green Energy will be providing the solar system and owning it and selling the power to the hotel through a PPA or power purchase agreement. http://bit.ly/w30cSE
and then we popped the second bottle…..
Cogeneration is the sumultaneous production of two forms of energy from a single fuel source. In our case, we will be using natural gas to make electricity and hot water for heat and domestic hot water for the Inn. The system will be located in Catherine’s pottery studio and will be able to be viewed by guests at the Inn and for tours. The energy production will be avilable online as well.
The typical power plant generates electricity at a 35 to 40% efficiency and dumps all the rest of the heat to the atmosphere or to a body of water (casuing other issues in the lake) so for 10 units of fuel you get 3.5 to 4 back in usable energy. This is partly due to the fact that everyone wants to power plants burning dirty coal to be located far away so it is impossible to use the heat energy that could be captured.
With smaller scale distributed energy and using cogeneration , for every 10 units of fuel, we can get back 9 units of usable energy in the form of electricity and hot water thus benefiting the environment. Europe generates 35% of the energy by cogneration while it is only about 8% in the US.
The Green Leaf Inn is a unique project that combines a building renovation, new construction, commercial and residential as a hotel. This is a demonstration project for sustainable green building products and energy and water systems. As the first net zero energy hotel project, we will show products for all rooms of a home owner and also a commercial enerterpirse and of course hospitality goes without saying. Education and being exposed to different products and energy systems and water treatment is critical for building a sustainable future. With the population expected to be 450 million in the USA we can’t continue on our same path. It doesn’t mean living poor but choosing where we apply our assets and investments.
As we create new energy systems and green building oroducts, we create new economic opportunities that will keep more money in the local economy.
Cogeneration or as it is now called Combine Heat and Power allows for the efficent use of natural gas (some systems run on propane, oil and coal) and range from 1kw to many megawatts is output. The fuel is burned to make electricity but unlike the ower plant that just dumps the heat (thus only 35% efficient) a CHP caputures the majority of the waste heat so you can operate at a total efficiency of 90%. The system will be housed in the studio and will be visibly through a large window for viewing by the public.
In Europe, over a one 3rd of all electricity is produced through cogeneration. In the USA it is only a couple of a percent.
We have a garage that has been Catherine’s pottery studio and a wood shop for us both. It happens to be right in the middle of the parking lot area so we are pouring a slab, recycling the concrete, installing a CHP or cogeneration system that will make electricity and hot water and adding hydronic radiant heat for her studio. She will lose her office but it is a great place to install the CHP so people can look thoug
h a large picture window to see the equipment. The other option was in the basement but then no one would have see it.
The Green Leaf Inn will be videotaping the entire building of the hotel to show people what is available in the market, how it works, where you can get it and how to implement it at your home or building. We will be setting up an online tv show as well as using youtube. As the first net zero energy hotel, your products will not only be seen online and in print, but every year, 4,000 upper income couples will be coming to stay at the Inn and hear the story
