DELAVAN, WIS.—The Green Leaf Inn is sponsoring a Green Building Challenge. The Challenge asks for participants to design an Energy Management Control System; providing a strategy and product selection to control, manage and gather data on an integrated renewable energy system for the Green Leaf Inn (GLI), opening Spring 2013 as the first Net Zero Energy Hotel in North America. Interested parties must submit completed entry forms online by July 1 at www.thegreenleafinn.com.
This challenge is a first of its kind—requiring the integration of three different solar thermal systems; a cogen system, geothermal system, and a wood-fired boiler, to be combined with a 1,250 gallon thermal storage system insulated to R-80, providing heat and cooling for this historic first Net Zero Energy Hotel.
As a demonstration project, the GLI is designed to display multiple technologies. Through this Challenge, the Inn offers participants the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to design the best energy management system.
Wind, Solar & Much More
The GLI also includes a 50 kW wind turbine and a planned 30 kW solar photovoltaic array. The geothermal will be integrated with an 18,000 gallon rainwater storage tank, 15,000 gallon aerobic waste water treatment system, and two domestic wells bringing in 3,000 gallons per day when the hotel is at full occupancy (vertical wells complete the system).
“This challenge is intended to be the first of a series of design/building challenges,” says Fritz Kreiss, co-owner of the Green Leaf Inn. “We want to encourage both individuals and companies to explore creative and unique ways to solve a variety of green building challenges.”
The winning control strategy will be judged on style, cost and data presentation. The winner will receive extensive ongoing publicity and will be featured in an online webinar, discussing their strategy and promoting their company; available online as part of the historic data marking the building of the GLI as presented by GreenBuildTV.com. In addition, the winner will be featured in other resource materials including whitepaper, historical timeline, press release, e-newsletter article and video documentation. Documentation will remain online for up to one year after grand opening, with an approximate value of more than $5,800. For further details, visit www.thegreenleafinn.com/challenge.
