07 April 2009
Seeking Renewal, Town Turns to Same Wind That Devastated It
After a tornado, Kansas town decides that wind will be its source of energy
This is the first article in a series on the reconstruction of Greensburg, Kansas.
Washington — After a May 4, 2007, tornado leveled Greensburg, Kansas, a town of 1,400 people, many thought the community had been dealt a mortal blow.
“Our survivability was in question,” Greensburg City Administrator Steve Hewitt said. “The town leaders got their heads together and decided that we had to go in a new direction.”
Under the leadership of then-Mayor Lonnie McCullum, Greensburg residents decided that the strategy to get people to come back to Greensburg and re-establish the community was to make the town the literal embodiment of its name. In short, Greensburg embraced “green” energy — energy efficiency and renewable-energy technologies — not only as a means to rebuild devastated businesses and homes, but also as a means to make itself a national showcase for good environmental practices.
The current mayor, Bob Dixson, likens the effort to the spirit of pioneers who settled in the Great Plains in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
He said exercising stewardship over the land and environment is not a new concept. “Our ancestors in the rural setting knew everything about wind, solar, water conservation. They taught us that if you took care of the land, the land took care of you,” Dixson said.
The primary source of power in Greensburg will be wind. Kansas has the third highest potential among the U.S. states to generate electricity from wind, according to the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.
A subsidiary of the farm machinery maker Deere & Company is preparing to construct a wind farm outside Greensburg with a capacity to generate 12 megawatts, according to Greensburg officials and company sources. The wind farm is expected to become operational at the end of 2009.
For times when wind does not blow, a backup energy supply from hydropower is being put in place for Greensburg, according to NREL's Lynn Billman.
The Deere & Company dealership in Greensburg, the town's biggest business, is actively adopting and promoting energy-efficient technology in resurrecting its core business of selling and servicing farming equipment.
Mike Estes, who runs the business with his brother Kelly, said the dealership has been rebuilt to the platinum standard — the highest — of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, commonly known as LEED, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The council sets standards for environmentally friendly construction and operation methods.
The dealership receives 10 percent to 15 percent of its electricity from two small wind turbines developed by Endurance Wind Power Incorporated. The dealership building is heated by a radiation system that pumps a mixture of water and antifreeze through pipes embedded in the floor. The heater of the radiation system is fueled by waste oil extracted from farm machinery brought in for servicing at the repair shop: “Totally renewable and very efficient,” Mike Estes said.
The rebuilt dealership has 23 skylights that are linked to sensors in the fluorescent lighting system — when natural light dims, the artificial lights come on. Another lighting feature is the use of solar tubes, which bend and flex to bring outside light in.
Water-conserving toilets and other appliances are also features that helped earn the building its LEED platinum certification.
“In all, the green technology will allow us to reduce our energy costs by about 40 percent,” Mike Estes said.
All of Greensburg’s community buildings — including city hall, the school and the hospital — are being rebuilt to LEED platinum standards, according to City Administrator Hewitt.
Although Greensburg officials have no control over how private homeowners rebuild their houses, NREL's Billman said more than half the new houses are built in ways that make them about 40 percent more energy efficient than houses built to meet standard construction codes.
To publicize and raise funds for Greensburg efforts, Daniel Wallach, who settled there after a career running a nonprofit group in neighboring Colorado, founded the Greensburg GreenTown organization.
The city administrator and NREL credit Wallach for serving as an unofficial monitor who keeps Greensburg accountable for all of its environmental commitments. For his part, Wallach says he just wants to “showcase Greensburg as how a town of the future should be.”
More information on Greensburg is available on the town’s Web site. Greensburg GreenTown provides a look at Greensburg on its Web site.
