By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – There is a full-fledged "green building" tucked away in the town of Lancaster. And in Amherst, a family is living on solar energy. Saturday, consumers can learn how to reduce energy, improve their environment and lower costs during the "Tour of Solar Homes and Green Buildings."
At the Ecology and Environment headquarters, the green building concepts starts outside the building. The company is situated on about 80-acres of land along Pleasant View Drive in Lancaster. The green building was built in 1988.
The company is an international environmental engineering firm formed in 1970. Over time more space was needed for its headquarters. And in order to practice what it preaches, it was important to build on land that included natural surroundings. Director of environmental sustainability, Kevin Neumaier, says the more than 64,000 square foot building is surrounded by natural landscape.
"A green building really has to do with sustainability," Neumaier said. "It's about being closer to the natural cycle where things rejuvenate and where natural items get good use of their surroundings."
Outside the structure, you won't find perfectly manicured lawns or flower beds. Grass land meadows that surround the back of the building are mowed only every third year. Neumaier says this provides "roosting" areas for wild life.
"Bobolink, Meadowlark, plenty of deer and turkey," Neumaier said.
Lining the walk ways and drive way, wild flowers and trees also grow freely.
"It you look out here there is a line of conifer trees," Neumaier said. "That was part of our design when we sited the building. The trees produce a nice natural snow fence, reducing the snow load and it makes it easy to get in and out in the winter."
Ecology and Environment senior geologist John Nickerson says leaving the landscape natural protects the environment and saves money.
"We aren't paying someone to landscape continuously," Nickerson said. "We don't have the fuel costs. We don't have the emissions from our lawn mowing. So the benefit of a natural landscape is actually doing less harm."
Inside the green building, daylight fills the lobby, hallways and offices. About a thousand plants and even some trees line the main corridor -- some growing in dirt between the tile floor. Ecology and Environment recycles paper and uses biodegradable materials in its kitchen area. Drinking straws, made mostly from cornstarch, can be tossed into a compost bin.
The building also includes the longest atrium in Western New York. Utilizing the natural light has helped to reduce the company's electrical costs by 40 to 60 percent. Nickerson says they've also changed the ceiling lights and exit signs to reduce electrical usage.
"Those L-E-D lights now are using about seven and half watts," Nickerson said. "It's virtually a quarter of the previous uses. The payback on those lights was a matter of a few months. We recouped our money throughout the system within the first year."
The public is welcome to tour the site between 10 and 4 Saturday.
As part of the "Tour of Solar Homes and Green Buildings," consumers can visit a solar home in Amherst. Walter Simpson, UB's energy officer, and his family are opening up their ranch-style home from 1 until 5 Saturday.
The house was built in the 50s, but has been transformed into a solar home filled with energy-efficient materials.
"I saw it as a great chance to live in a solar home," Simpson said. "What we had to do initially was super insulate the house so that the solar gain through the windows would be significant enough to partially re-heat the house. We've actually reconstructed the house inside and out adding much insulation. We find that sun light, even in cloudy Buffalo, is able to provide at least a third of our heating needs."
Simpson says his bills for winter heating are as low as $70 to $80 a month. But now he expects an even bigger drop. Simpson says he just installed new "super windows" that could reduce his heat bill to just $35 a month.
The home is also equipped with solar hot water. Over half of the home's hot water is initially heated through solar collectors on top of the roof that pump to the basement.
"So all our hot water is, in a sense, powered by the sun in the late spring, summer and early fall months," Simpson said. "And there is some assistance the rest of the year. Now that system is not a practical system for most people. I'm an energy guy and I wanted to see if solar hot water would work in Buffalo,and it does, but it is expensive to put in."
Simpson says he has reduced his home electrical bill to about $30 a month by using compact florescent lights in lighting fixtures. But he also decided to purchase some wind power.
"We voluntarily decided to pay a couple of cents per kilowatt hour and by wind power," Simpson said. "Our electric power is actually coming from one of the wind farms in New York State. We pay $6 extra a month and we kicked the coal and nuclear habit, and anybody can do that."
Simpson says in order to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle in a home, two key steps are needed -- conservation and insulation. Simpson says he finds no limitations to living the solar life.