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 committed to sponsor the renewable energy, green building, sustainable living fair to be held by Lake Geneva WI July 16-18, 2010. In fact, we will be one of the tour stops where people can see our wind turbine up close along with a dual axis tracking solar photovoltaic system. More info at www.ecofair360.com
It’snot that we have not been busy- actually I have been too busy trying to make money to get past the preparation of the project to starting to get the project being built. We are finally getting to that stage with our wind turbine expecting to go up in February- The previous year was battling anti-wind ordinances which ended up costing $36,000 in legal fees to get through zoning. All I can say when the truck came to deliver the Endurance 50kw 120 monopole is really cool. It’s great to get that little boy in a toy store feeling as an adult. Now we have to find someone who can do time lapse photography to be able to show the whole installation.
First, I want to apologize to the number of trees that had to be turned in to paper in order to complete the USDA grant for renewable energy. The complexity of the grant when you reach almost $400,000 in total project costs is amazing. We had an overall summary, technical feasability study from a 3rd party, overall feasability study including marketing, economic, and the CPA do do the financial feasbility. Then you add in letters of support (thanks to the folks at www.renewwisconsin.org and www.focusonenergy.com ) and GDS Associates who made time in their schedule to squeeze our report in.
We chose a 50kw wind turbine made by Endurance Wind. We had looked at a 100kw but because of the wind resource our area is, doubling the size does not double the output. The was a $150,000 to $200,000 difference for only 30,000 more kwh projected to be produced. At $.08 per kwh, that would take 60 years or more for the added payback. Actually it would only be about 40 years after the tax benefits.
It is important to take advantage of the grants and tax benefits that exist because without them the market would never develop. But I guess we need to make sure we prepare a few months ahead to get it done. Of course it was July 14th when we finally had the final vote from Walworth County to approve our zoning change and Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for the wind turbine and the entire Inn.
Environmental benefits of our wind turbine over 20 years- saving 4,400,000 lbs of CO2, 11,400 lbs of NOX, 24,400 lbs of SO2 and stop the burning of 1,000 tons of coal. Later we will go through the economics and how the money works on wind.
Wow- didn’t see that one coming and I have heard a lot of them. Conditional Use Permit public discussion gives everyone a chance to voice their opinions and feelings. The letter the town sent out had this project involves a wind turbine in extra large bold print so I guess we could have expected something. In reality, the person was upset because he bought a piece of property and thought the world would never change around him- then he gets a notice that the hwy 50 will be expanding in several years to 4 lanes and the road will wipe out all of his trees blocking the road and basically allow him to hand a cup of coffee to someone driving down the road. A car at 300 feet at 40 mph is 55 db and since their house will be 20 feet off the hwy, those bumble bees could be used to drown out the noise of the traffic. And then they realize our project is moving ahead.
We had been pretty upset about the hwy 50 expansion notice and then one member on the town board said that hwy 50 corridor was meant to go all commercial as part of the town’s long term land use plans. We got handed a lemon and decided to make a lemonade stand called The Green Leaf Inn.
We are starting to prepare for a number of shows to get The Green Leaf Inn project out in front of like minded people. More info at www.greenfestivals.org Last year 35,000 people attended the show. With our plans to condo-tel our building and all of the renewable energy systems- perhaps we can find potential investors interested in owning a piece of a net zero hotel for the revenue, tax benefits and pride of owning something unique.
I do want to say thanks to Focus on Energy. They manage the state rebates and energy assessments for WI to help expand renewable energy and energy efficiency in the state. They have paid 50% of our solar thermal, wind, and home energy audit for our project preparation. A lot of people don’t even know they exist or what resources resources they offer. I think our project will go a long way with helping expose people to what can be done.
We are just learning what other benefits exist and hope that we can take advantage to help fund our project.
Before you just stick up a wind turbine, you need to see whether it makes sense and in WI, you have to have an assessment to qualify for state rebates.
Randy Faller with Kettle View Renewable Energy (certified by the MREA for commercial wind site assessment) came out this Sat morning at 8AM. After discussing our goals and questions about the Green Leaf Inn project over a pot of coffee, we headed out to walk the property. Critical items and questions included soil types (towers and turbines are heavy and awkward) for town stability, prevailing winds throughout the year, access for a crane for the installation, and tree height. We have a lot of trees over 70 feet high: to humans, these are beautiful, but to wind turbines, these are simply obstructions.
I had just finished writing an article about renewable energy for urabn areas. We stressed that the three main problems for wind projects are: tower height is too low, tower height is too low, and tower height is too low. So with our tree height it looks like a 120 foot tall tower will be necessary. The full wind assessment report should be available in early September.
I would love to develop a wind farm in Walworth county. The wind maps show some good resources here. Renewable energy is homeland security.
