ORMOND BEACH, FLA.—Built in 1956, The Maverick Resort is demonstrating its ongoing commitment to developing a high-performance sustainable building with the installation of a commercial hot water solar system on its roof. The system is currently under construction by Zon Solar Inc.
“It’s becoming a trend to do green buildings,” said Keith Rasnake, general manager of The Maverick Resort. “We’re finally realizing that these structures have an enormous impact on our environment.”
The green ethic—energy-efficient, water-sparing buildings full of features that stress the natural over the chemical, the recycled over the new and the renewable over the finite—is quickly becoming mainstream. Common features now found in green buildings include: cool roofing, non-toxic paint and finishes, wheat board cabinetry, low-flow showerheads and toilets, wood floors and walls of Brazilian cherry, Caribbean walnut and other plantation-grown varieties, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, recycled and locally obtained building materials, rain and wastewater captured for toilets and landscaping, and panels that double as sunshades and solar power generators.
Fourteen Solar Panels Being Installed
Zon Solar, family owned and operated since 1978, is in the process of placing 14 solar panels atop the resort’s roof which will help meet 70 to 90 percent of the property’s hot water demand. The collectors will preheat more than 700 gallons of water before it enters into the existing gas boiler system, thus reducing the burden of recovery to the gas boilers. This will significantly reduce the resort’s natural gas consumption, as well as its carbon footprint.
“I believe that realizing the opportunity to lessen the effects that energy consumption has on air quality and the importance of being environmentally responsible is a must in today’s economy,” Rasnake said. “We started at the top of the building with highly efficient spray polyurethane foam roofing and then added high-efficiency air conditioners and ceiling fans in all the rooms, compact fluorescents throughout the entire building, weather stripping, reclaimed wood for all furniture on the pool deck, eco-friendly chemicals, and now solar energy panels.”
The Maverick Resort will receive a federal tax credit for 30 percent of the total installation cost of this project. Currently, commercial applications of hot water solar, photovoltaic electric solar and solar attic fans qualify for this credit. Plus, participants have two years to use up the credit on their federal income taxes. In addition, residential installations have a $2,000 cap, and the credit is good for only one year.
“People don’t realize how cost effective these incentive programs can be,” says Brad Ballash, president of Zon Solar Inc. “A hot water system can reduce the average electric bill 30 percent and actually pay for itself in three years. Once the incentive packages expire, these numbers will change and the electric costs will just keep rising.”
Go to Zon Solar.
