ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 2 - Spring

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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10,000 tons of food waste out of landfills each year. More will follow, but already The Plant's tenants include Arize Kombucha; Pleasant House Bakery; Nature's Little Recyclers, a worm farm; Greens and Gills, a fish and farm aquaponic operation; and the Urban Canopy, an organi- zation that aims to support agriculture in cities. As much as Lundrigan and her team aim to develop The Plant into a producer in its own right, they hope that replication is another major by- product. Though they're only one-third through a five- to seven-year process, they've already set a precedent of being transparent and specific about the sources of funding and regulations. "It's unheard of, and it's the Chicago way of doing things: Apologize later instead of begging permission," Lundrigan says, noting that the Department of Agriculture, the inspecting agency, doesn't really have protocols set up to deal with an urban farm. The result: sustenance for a food desert, a resource for food entrepreneurs, a source of jobs in a distressed neighborhood, and a model for repurposing the industrial skeleton left behind as Chicago transitions from Carl Sandburg's "tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities" into a greener place. CONSERVATION UNIVERSITY Over in McHenry County, Loyola University is developing a "Retreat and Ecology Campus" that aims to become net zero within the current decade. Wayne Magdziarz, senior vice president of capital planning, says it's part of a much larger plan to green Loyola's campuses and to provide a laboratory for future growth. The university has reduced about 34 percent of its consumption over the past four years, saving roughly $3 million per year. "We've embraced building green," Magdziarz, says, referencing developments at both its Water Tower and Lake Shore campuses over the past decade. "We're a Jesuit institu- tion with a strong commitment to justice issues, and we believe we should be good stewards to the environment in order to live out our mission." The university retrofitted insulation, windows, and mechanical systems in existing buildings, which will reduce power demands by about 34 percent. "What's completed to date is 'net-zero ready,'" says Don McLauchlan, one of the principals at Elara Engineering, the firm that has overseen Loyola's green projects for more than a decade. "That means we've made it as efficient as prac- tically possible. What's left is to add the renewable energy component." The plan: 91 geothermal wells driven 500 feet into the earth will handle heating and cooling, while photovoltaic panels, solar thermal cells, and wind turbines will harvest energy from the elements. There is also a biodiesel lab, which will generate 30,000 gallons of fuel from food waste across the cam- puses of Loyola and other institutions, including Northwestern. "Chicago is clearly a leader," McLauchlan says of the sustainability movement. "We're seeing it in the private sector, too. Ask any manager of a downtown office building, and they will now know their Energy Star rating." THE HURDLE For all the drum banging about the admittedly impressive strides these Chicago institutions are making, we're still years away from having compel- ling financial incentives for the average consumer to go net zero. "You want to be energy-efficient first, because the economics of net zero still aren't quite there," McLauchlan says. "Renewable energy is still very expensive, but just proving that it's possible is a first big step." Certain policies, such as President Obama's "20 by 2020" initiative (a mandate that federal buildings generate 20 percent of their energy renew- ably within the next six years), provide some motivation. So does Chicago's own Sustainable Chicago 2015 project, an aggressive plan to green the city over three years led by Chicago's first-ever chief sustainability officer, Karen Weigert. "We should be about a third of the way done, but in a number of cases, we're ahead," Weigert explains, pointing to signs of progress: over 10,000 annual Divvy Bike memberships; a 65 percent increase in retrofitting activity in energy efficiency zones; 75 miles of water mains replaced; and groundbreak- ing on the 2.7-mile Bloomingdale Trail (the anticipated elevated trail system that will run through Bucktown, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park, and Logan Square), with its first phase opening to the public this fall. So far, though, many developing net-zero projects are doing so for philosophical reasons. "I'm designing every home at a LEED Silver base level," says William Scholtens, principal and founder of Elements Architectural Group, a resi- dential design firm based in Oak Park. "I don't see clients asking for it yet; I sense that it's us keeping the conversation going." Scholtens recently transformed an 1880s row house in Lincoln Park into a LEED Platinum gem. Like the Loyola campus, the Lincoln Park home is cur- rently net-zero ready and is equipped for photovoltaics, which convert solar radiation into electricity. In the few years since its completion, the architect and his client have discussed the pros and cons of taking it all the way, but to add the solar-harvesting component would be too pricey. "The cost to add photovoltaics to the home is close to $100,000," Scholtens explains. "His energy bill is currently $100 to $200 a month. That's a 50-year payback." For the technology to become more widely adopted, "it needs to get cheaper," he says. "As cost goes down and efficiency goes up, we might have a shot." Scholtens doesn't believe any of this diminishes Chicago's position at the forefront of the movement, largely because the city has become a go-to national resource. "One of the things Chicago is doing that's leading the way is the amount of green professionals we have," Scholtens says, as he runs through a list of places—upstate New York; Cape Cod; Marin County, California; even Hawaii—all of which have net-zero residential developments that Scholtens has been involved with. "I see us as an exporter of the [net-zero] mind-set." In the meantime, technological advances like fusion energy and more accessible photovoltaics in the form of shingles and window panes suggest that a financially viable net-zero future may be just around the corner—and Chicago is leading the charge. MA William Scholtens of Elements Architectural Group designs every home to LEED Silver standards. MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 129 124-129_MA_FEAT_Net_Spring_2014.indd 129 2/12/14 9:49 AM

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