Imagine an office building where workers’ feet don’t freeze, or employees don’t need to deploy fans in summer or space heaters in winter.
The Lehigh Valley nonprofit Sustainable Energy Fund broke ground Thursday on a $5.4 million, 15,000-square-foot building near its offices in Schnecksville that it says will be the first of its kind in the region for being super energy efficient and capable of churning out kilowatt-hours that can be sold on the power grid.
“We’ve been preaching this concept for years,” Bob Thomson, Sustainable Energy Fund’s board chairman, said before the ceremony. “Now it’s time to walk the talk.”
John Costlow, president and CEO of Sustainable Energy Fund, said the all-electric building’s energy consumption will be about 25 percent of that used in a traditional building its size, with renewable energy production to be at least 130 percent and as much as 200 percent.
“We’ll actually be pushing energy back to the utility company instead of consuming energy,” he said.
How will that happen?
Costlow told about two dozen people at the groundbreaking that the steel building will have a “very high efficiency” refrigerant system, with a rooftop of solar panels. It will have a “hyper” heating system, super insulation, and the ability to harness heat generated by people inside.
For engineering geeks, that means a person burns 2,500 British thermal units per hour. A Btu is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit.
The building will also have heating and cooling systems in each office and “operable windows” allowing people to bring in outside air while the system can monitor the internal heating and cooling systems.
Costlow said Sustainable Energy Fund, which employs nine people, will occupy 3,000 square feet and lease the remaining office space. He said Sustainable Energy Fund received zoning and other approvals from North Whitehall Township.
No one from the township attended the event, but township Manager Jeff Bartlett said in a telephone interview that supervisors approved the land development plan last fall.
The organization announced the project in June 2017, around the time it bought 4.15 acres ? a former apple orchard ? for $403,520.
He said the group might seek tax-exempt financing but plans to pay for the building and not seek public assistance. He said the group hopes to be moved in by Christmas Eve.
“It’s been a long journey to get here,” he said.
Net-zero energy buildings have begun to garner attention in recent years, but they are not commonplace.
There have been 78 certified zero-energy buildings worldwide, according to the International Living Future Institute, which tracks such projects. In 2013, there were just 11 certified net-zero energy buildings, according to the Seattle-based group.
The local SEF was founded in 1999 through a settlement approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission during the state’s electric deregulation proceedings. Since then, SEF has been a leading promoter of sustainable energy projects.
Ashley McGraw of Syracuse, N.Y., is the design architect, and TN Ward Co. of Ardmore, Montgomery County, is the builder.
Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone can be reached at 610-820-6694 or asalamone@mcall.com.
