Permission granted.
John Schaefer can talk the talk.
He walks the walk at the head of the Conservation 101 classroom march.
Schaefer, director of public works in the Village of Homewood, has helped implement plans to conserve energy and natural resources during his tenure while saving residents money and helping the village stick within a budget fixed by tough economic times.
His work runs the gamut from the recent installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system in Homewood’s Public Safety Building to the village’s participation in cooperative ventures such as the sales of rainwater catching barrels and a 50-50 tree purchase program.
The new geothermal heating and cooling system in the police and fire department building at 17950 Dixie Highway was installed at a cost of $1.5 million, Schaefer said. Construction started in November. The project was completed in mid-February.
Schaefer said the new heating/cooling system—one-of-a-kind in the South suburbs—is expected to pay for itself in 10 years through savings gained from doing away with the purchase of natural gas and cutting back on the use of electricity as well reducing maintenance costs.
“It’s very new technology out this way, where we’re basically using the warmth and cooling of the earth to heat and cool the police and fire departments,” Schaefer said. “It’s an energy-efficient program. It helps improve the carbon footprint, per se—because we’re not using natural gas—and our energy as far as electric use is going to go down.”
Schaefer said contractors drilled 27 wells in the rear parking lot of the village hall complex, each one about 400 to 425 feet deep. He said water is collected in cylindrical tubes and circulated throughout the wells before it is pumped into the police and fire building at about 52 degrees.
Then, heating and cooling measures are applied to raise the temperature of the water and ultimately regulate the temperature in the building.
Schaefer is proud to promote the Village of Homewood’s annual cost-sharing initiative with residents in planting trees, too. He said the village purchases trees and splits the cost with residents 50-50 in a win-win scenario: Trees provide beauty, shade and raise property values in the village.
And, then, there is the matter of conserving water.
Schaefer said village officials offer rainwater collection barrels for purchase in conjunction with events like Homewood Days. He said the collection process can be one of the best ways for homeowners to cut costs on their water bills and strive toward becoming more eco-friendly, too.
“The water that is collected is very good for plants—it’s high in nitrogen,” Schaefer said. “And you’ll save money on your water bill.”
For those not in the capital improvement business, it should be noted that projects that have a 10 year "payback" are virtually always rejected as being low value in responsible institutions. It is rare that a project with more than three years payback period is approved by responsible Boards because of the uncertainty of energy and maintenance costs beyond that period. Think about it. If someone asked you to make a home improvement at a cost where it would take a decade to BREAK EVEN, when a much more effective and less expensive option was available, would you make the change?
It also appears that Mr "conservation 101" wasn't aware that clean, safe natural gas prices have been dropping like a stone due to tremendous supply discovered in Pennsylvania in the Marcellus Shale. This is a very specialized type of system that's being installed. Is there more than one vendor who makes a spec compliant system like this, or did this unique project result in a sole source contract? What are the political connections of that firm and the politicians in Homewood? On its face, moving forward with this costly project makes little economic or environmental sense. There is ALWAYS a reason that politicians do things like these, and to find out why all you need to do is follow the money trail. When the Patch is done gushing all over the bad plan, can it actually do some investigative journalism on what's really going on here?
Pollution? Electric car batteries create an incredible amount of toxic waste and battery disposal will create a problem far worse than burning natural gas. I've designed silicon plants for chips and solar panels, and creating them is incredibly energy intensive process and most solar panels in our area will probably take more energy than they deliver. We have abundant supplies of natural gas produced in the US, at least a hundred years of supply for his country in known reserves. Expansion of gas energy in producing power and fueling vehicles is the most sound energy policy. It's actually get cheaper as time goes by. It's only downside is that Obama's campaign contributors need government handouts to keep their failed "green" boondoggles going!