Activity expected to resume on energy-producing hotel
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
The economy and the weather have delayed progress on what will be the continent’s first Net Zero hotel, the owner said last week.
“This winter has been really bad,” said Fritz Kreiss, co-owner of the Green Leaf Inn, which was scheduled to open last summer at 5072 Highway 50 in the Town of Delavan.
Kreiss and his wife, Catherine McQueen, began work in February 2010 on renovating their former home into a 19-suite inn that will produce more energy than it uses. They planned to open the facility in the summer of 2013 but the economy delayed the project, and this winter’s extreme cold and snow kept it at a halt, Kreiss said.
Although the economy has begun to recover, Kreiss said bank lending activity is still very slow for small to medium businesses, and he had difficulty securing financing for the project through traditional banks.
“We’re looking for private funding to be able to finish the entire build-out,” he said.
Kreiss said he has turned to investors and private debt companies to finance the project and expects to secure funds within the next couple of months.
Once financing is in place, Kreiss said, the project will require seven to nine more months of construction to complete.
Town of Delavan Administrator John Olson said some neighbors have complained about the lack of progress at the facility.
Kreiss said he and McQueen are anxious to get the project completed as well.
“We have a huge investment sitting there,” he said.
Olson said neighbors also have complained about aesthetics, noise and parts of the project being in a state of construction.
A 153-foot tall wind turbine on the site, which Kreiss said had been up and running for three to four years, has been dismantled for an upgrade.
He said the turbine is getting a new rotor and wind blades but deep snow has prevented a crane from getting to the apparatus to install the new parts.
“It would have been done earlier, but snow settled in right before they could get in there,” he said.
If enough snow melts, the turbine should be repaired within the week, he said.
Energy systems
Kreiss said progress has been made on some of the inn’s energy infrastructure.
An aerobic wastewater treatment plant has been installed for the entire facility, he said. And a ground-mounted solar photo voltaic, which converts sunlight to energy, will be installed in late spring if weather permits.
Also completed is an 18,000-gallon rainwater storage tank that will capture rainwater that drains off the roofs of the buildings and store it on site, Kreiss said. Piping for the tank is yet to be completed, and it will be integrated with a geothermal system. The stored water will be used to water plants, for fire suppression and as a heating and cooling source for the site’s geothermal system, he said.
A co-generation system that will generate electricity and hot water from burning natural gas will be installed in McQueen’s pottery studio in early summer. The hot water will be used for radiant floor heat and domestic use such as showering and laundry.
The cottage – one of two buildings that will house the inn’s suites – will have three different energy systems, Kreiss said. A concentrating parabolic trough will follow and track the sun and concentrate sunlight on one thin band to heat water hotter as opposed to a traditional solar panel, he said. The other two systems will use a flat plate and an evacuated tube to heat water.
Late last fall, a 12,000-gallon storage tank was buried underground to store hot water that is not being used as it’s generated, Kreiss said.
Many different systems are being installed because the facility will be used as a demonstration project to show people across the country how a Net Zero hotel works, said Wen-D Kersten, director of marketing for the Greenleaf Media Group. Kreiss said his company, Alternative Utility Services Inc., works with hotels across the country on their energy systems.
Moving forward
The Green Leaf Inn will consist of 19 guest suites with a common area in the lower level of the cottage where breakfast will be served in the morning and wine, in the evening, Kreiss said.
He said designs for the site had to be changed to accommodate state requirements for some additional access points. He said after this winter’s reminder of how harsh the elements can be, the company is also considering combining the two buildings that will house the guest suites.
Kreiss said he has addressed the complaints from neighbors and the township, and Kersten said with winter breaking and spring emerging, the project is gearing up and moving forward.
