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!
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/260419
magine paying pennies for your utility bill. Better yet, imagine paying nothing. That's the chimera architects, scientists, and building owners have chased for decades. "Net-zero" energy is a simple enough concept; it's the idea that a building can pro- duce enough renewable energy on-site to cancel out its consumption. But it has taken decades for technology to catch up with such a lofty goal. High costs and inefficient hardware created a barrier to entry that few but the most idealis- tic attempted to overcome. For most consumers, the return on investment wasn't worth mainstream implementation. The economics may still be a stretch for many, but a proliferation of energy-conscious projects—several of them in Chicago—sug- gests we may be approaching a new dawn. In November, Deerfield-based Walgreens became the first major US retailer on record to create a net-zero energ y store, in the North Shore burg of Evanston. And it heralds the arrival of Chicago as a national leader that is breaking ground not only in the retail arena, but in the edu- cational, residential, and farming sectors as well. "The industry as a whole considers net zero for retail impossible," says Jason Robbins, man- ager of mechanical engineering for Walgreens, "until the first company does and shows that it is possible." In that case, consider the door blown open. Thanks to solar, wind, and geothermal technologies, the Evanston store is not only scheduled to reduce its required consumption by 50 percent, it will also produce all the energy it requires. It has even recycled 85 percent of the old site's new mate- rials into the construction of the new one. Walgreens engineers project that the store will consume only 220,000 kilowatt hours per year (compared to the 450,000 kWh a normal store scarfs down), while producing up to 256,000 kWh, given optimal weather conditions. Excess energy will be sold back to the utility companies. Eight hundred and fifty roof-mounted solar panels accomplish most of this feat by covering 95 to 100 percent of the store's needs, while two 35-foot wind turbines chip in another 10 percent and offset emissions from an esti- mated 2.2 passenger vehicles. Massive geothermal pipes sunk 550 feet into the ground deliver air from deep within the earth at a year-round tempera- ture of 54.5, which means that the air conditioning unit needs to do less work than normal to bring the indoor temperature to a comfortable 72 degrees. So why now? "The right technology is finally available, but the push over the past seven to 10 years has revolved around companies becoming more responsible," explains Jamie Meyers, manager of sustainability for Walgreens. For Walgreens, it was the logical next step in a company philosophy that champions sustainability in more ways than just the utility bill. "We saw this as part of the mantle of leadership," Meyers says. "If we want to [be true to our tagline] of being 'at the corner of happy and healthy,' what can we do to dem- onstrate that living well goes beyond our products?" A TV inside the store tracks wind direction and speed; the indoor and outdoor temperatures; the amount of solar gain; and the levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases. Part of the initiative is educating customers. With Walgreens headquar- tered in Deerfield, there's no question that Chicago is on the forefront of the net-zero movement. And with its f leet of 8,200 stores growing at more than 100 per year, the key benefits of this project are sure to spread across the country. Walgreens has already advised other Chicagoland companies on how to replicate its success, though Meyers declined to reveal which ones. But is net zero becoming a way of life? "That's certainly where it's head- ing," Meyers says. "I don't think we're at a critical mass yet, but customers are discerning based on the reputation of the company, and they will demand innovation." BACKYARD GREENS On the opposite end of Chicagoland from aff luent college town Evanston, a revolution is underway in the form of a very different net-zero initiative. Sprouting in the Back of the Yards is The Plant, a vertical-farming opera- tion in the defunct meat-packing facility that used to house Peer Foods. Where men with knives once tore f lesh and broke bones, horticulturists now nurture leafy green life. The Plant was founded in 2010 when John Edel and his company, Bubbly Dynamics, bought the 93,500-square-foot building for a mere $525,000 with the aim of offering a local, sustainable alternative to wasteful food produc- tion. While a new construction might have cost them thousands of dollars per square foot, this deal had the mind-bogglingly low cost of approximately $5.50 per square foot. "It was sold as a strip-and-rip because of all the valuable materials, but what we want to do instead is continue to focus on food produc- tion and take advantage of this building's energy efficiency," says Abigail Lundrigan, The Plant's education and marketing coordinator, as she leads a group of curious Chicagoans past the rickety freight elevators and through the insulated passageways of the labyrinthine brick building. A third of the building is devoted to aquaponic growth in the form of live fish (tilapia, to be exact), chard, watercress, arugula, and lettuce mix. Two- thirds are set aside for a community education space, a commercial kitchen (rentable by the hour when completed), and work spaces for independent food professionals like a kombucha brewery, a beer brewery, a bakery, and more. Thanks to The Plant's sustainability measures, it diverts 30 tons of waste per day. Mirroring the symbiosis of nature, it works like this: Fish waste feeds the greens. A giant, 100-foot anaerobic digester turns food waste into algae for the fish and a fuel called "bio gas," which burns with 91 percent efficiency in a generator, creating electricity for the grow lights and steam for heating and cooling. All food waste—whether it's from the fish, the breweries, the plants, or the humans—is fed back into the digester, and all loops are closed. In the process, The Plant's operators plans to create 125 jobs and divert I One third of The Plant is dedicated to aquaponic cultivation of watercress and other plants. 126 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 124-129_MA_FEAT_Net_Spring_2014.indd 126 2/12/14 9:47 AM