Tech college’s Bill Hanlon takes his expertise to devastated town
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Heating and cooling bills that range from $40 to $80 per month are only a part of the efficiencies an Emporian is introducing in an effort to emphasize the “green” in Greensburg.
The town was demolished by a tornado in May 2007.
Bill Hanlon, who is a consultant for the rebuilding of the town, has written and published “Outside the Box,” a book about energy efficient houses, and is a construction trades instructor for the Flint Hills Technical College. He long has specialized in combining energy efficiency and efficacy in home construction and said that the FHTC house nearing completion by Timmerman School is one of the top three energy-efficient houses in the state.
Hanlon consults for the Greensburg GreenTown group, a corporation that is helping put together the overall energy picture of the town, he said.
“It’s the most mentally stimulating thing I’ve done for a long time, trying to figure out this thing and see how close we can come to the idea,” he said. “But there’s 1,000 parts to it.”
Many of those “parts” will receive broad attention through the national media. Greensburg will be covered on the Discover Channel’s new “Planet Green” channel as part of a 13-part series scheduled to begin in June 15; CNBC, NBC, and ABC are preparing or have done broadcasts, and the Science Channel has visited Greensburg to work on a documentary.
“We’ve got a lot of press,” Hanlon said. “That’s why we’re trying to make it into a thing we can teach from, and it’s just perfect for me, being a teacher. ... I think we can help this country a lot by showing them what we got done.”
Hanlon is convinced that the only way to effect a true change in attitude toward energy and the economy starts at a grassroots level.
“The whole idea is it’s got to happen at home,” he said. “These people will do it. None of this stuff works from the top down, whether it’s Emporia or Greensburg. It’s got to start at the bottom. It’s got to be grassroots.”
His theory is working well in Greensburg, though he realizes not everyone will be able to, or can afford to, participate in a total “greening.”
Hanlon began helping rebuild a greener and better Greensburg in early August 2007, after the initial clean-up had been accomplished.
Lynn Billman and representatives of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., also have joined the green initiative team.
The U.S. Department of Energy became involved, as did the state’s own energy division and numerous engineers and architects, including the firm of Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell, according to a May 2, 2008, news release from DOE.
Hanlon said that initially the relationship with the federal energy experts was a bit strained.
“The Department of Energy had an attitude that, ‘We’re sorry that you’re stupid farmers from Kansas and we’re smart people from Washington.’ That’s where that whole ruckus was, and we got over that,” he said.
Since then, much has been accomplished.
Wind turbines to supply Greensburg’s energy may be the most visibly impressive evidence of the town’s effort to leave a minimal carbon footprint. Two machines will supply 2.5 megawatts of energy and will tie in to the existing electrical grid to produce electricity and sell the overage back to the electric company instead of operating apart from the company.
“We’re not going to make Sunflower Power the enemy,” he said. “These guys came in immediately, worked all day, all night” after the tornado.
And although it has been a challenge to coordinate the technology to do the grid tie-in, it can and will be done, he said.
“It’s like going against the flow of the river,” he said, describing the process. “We’ll be able to supply more than the town uses and we’ll be carbon-neutral.”
The conservation project has attracted international attention, he said, with Australia donating 200 residential low-flow toilets remaining after an eight-year drought on that continent.
“Now they’ve given us 200 more commercial toilets,” Hanlon said.
DOE and the local and state consultants also are trying to introduce new means of transportation and encouraging individuals and businesses to use the rebuilding as an opportunity to incorporate energy-efficient parts and equipment in the process.
“We’re encouraging people to shoot as close to zero energy as they can,” Hanlon said. “The other side of that equation is, ‘This is real life and money’s the deal.’ We’re not going to have a perfect town.”
Some homeowners wanted to rebuild quickly, and some could not afford the added investment that energy efficiency demands. He also has spent considerable time making sure lumber yards and supply stores in the area stock the types of products that are environmentally friendly.
Hanlon is frustrated by the state’s and the nation’s failure to provide incentives for individuals and businesses to switch to energy sources that are renewable and leave no carbon footprint on the planet.
“They’re jumping up and down telling us we have to have coal-fired plants because we don’t have enough power,” he said. “We do not have an incentive in this state for alternative production of fuel. Everybody talks about it.”
Wind energy is efficient, now that technology will allow storage of the overproduction, he said.
“I anguish over the solar thing,” Hanlon said. “We had a good system in there (in the mid-1980s) and it got booted out. ... Every kilowatt you produce is free and it’s non-carbon-based ... but it’s hard for people to make the initial jump in this country.”
Still, the green group has made significant gains as it conducted numerous on-going workshops on the subject and has encouraged people to use high-efficiency framing systems, like insulated concrete blocks and structurally insulated panels (SIPs).
“SIPs are the framing,” he explained. “What they are is Styrofoam with OSB on both sides, and that makes a structural panel and you build your walls with those.”
Hanlon wants to see more solar energy incorporated into buildings, such as one suggested for the John Deere dealership, which has been completed and is certified as a platinum-level, energy-efficient operation by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.
The dealership, which has 1.8 and 3.8 kilowatt-producing wind turbines, was to have included a large solar unit to preheat collected rain water and send it through radiant floor systems in the shop. The $192,000 price tag may have been a stumbling block.
“I think the initial cost is what stops us,” Hanlon said.
A General Motors dealership in Greensburg will be the most energy-efficient car dealership in the United States, he said.
“Six of us worked on that team,” Hanlon said, “but the architect was on top of it. It was an easy one; just a couple of hours of conversations on the phone.”
GM also plans to bring in “cars of the future” to introduce in Greensburg. That could happen as early as the fall, he said.
Hanlon wants to extend the greening effort to farmers and fields surrounding the town. At a meeting this month, discussion centered around Kansas organic products, farmers and gardeners and, ultimately, a Farmers Market to produce for families and, with a change in state law, for restaurants in that area. A microbrewery could be a possibility as a new specialized industry, with the ingredients grown within a few miles of the brewery. In short, he wants Greensburg to be more self-sufficient.
“I also want to see the farmer out there grow the hops and the barley,” he said. “Your food is grass-fed beef from 15 miles away. All the food is grown in hot houses that produce around here, plus your local market. Let’s see if we can pull this off.”
His goal is to have the area produce 50 percent of its food in three years.
“That’s a huge step,” he said. “It was scary for me to say we’re doing that.”
But he wouldn’t be surprised if the citizens of Greensburg and its surrounds were capable of doing just that. They are, he said, “a very smart group of people on the ground, very innovative, (and with) an extremely strong sense of community. ...
“They’re used to rolling up their sleeves and going to it,” Hanlon said.