Michigan Sustainable Homes & Businesses Tour
(formerly Michigan Solar Tour)
Part of the ASES National Solar Tour
October 6, 2007
10 am - 4 pm
The solar tour is free and self-guided. Visit as many sites as you would like from 10am to 4pm, in any order that you would like.  Enjoy the good energy, and have fun!

Greater Lansing Area
Metro Detroit Area
Greater Ann Arbor Area
Southwest Michigan Area
Greater Marquette Area
Greater Traverse City Area
Greater Grand Rapids Area
Northwest Michigan Area

Greater Grand Rapids Tour
Regional Coordinators:
Jennifer Malinowski (jennifer.malinowski@glrea.org or 800-434-9788)
Jeannine Reynolds, Alliance for Environmental Sustainability (info@alliancees.org or 616-458-6733)

Beaver / Barnes Home
1546 10 Mile Road NE, Comstock Park

This passive solar home has a seven panel dual mode water/air solar heating system.  The original system was designed as a closed loop antifreeze solar water heating collector but when it was moved to this home it was converted to closed loop drainback.  A heat exchanger and ducting were added to allow the system to also provide active backup space heating.  The drainback design allows water to be used as the heat transfer medium for more efficient heat collection.

12 panel 1kW photovoltaic system with a Trace 48 volt inverter.

Directions: US-131 North from Grand Rapids to 10 Mile Road (exit 97).  Go west 1½ miles to drive.  Look for the wooden Dogpatch sign above the mailboxes.  Turn left (south), stay to the left and come ¼ mile to the end of the road.

Click here for Mapquest area map

Calvin College Wind Turbine
1661 East Paris Ave, Grand Rapids



A 1.8 kW Southwest Windpower Skystream 3.7 wind turbine is installed in the nature preserve at Calvin College.  This student-led project has attracted the attention of Governor Granholm.  Come see the turbine in operation and hear first-hand about the permitting and installation process.  For more information see http://wind.calvin.edu

Directions:
From I-96:
Take the 28th Street West Exit.  Follow 28th Street West to E Paris Ave.  Make a Right on E Paris Ave.  Enter the Gainey Athletic Fields off of East Paris Avenue, south of Lake Drive and North of Burton Street.  Follow the road for ¼ mile to the site.  The Turbine is visible from East Paris Avenue.

Click here for Google area map
Please note that the star on this map does not indicate where the turbine is.

David D Hunting YMCA
475 Lake Michigan Drive NW, Grand Rapids

The David. D. Hunting YMCA is a 159,000 square-foot, family-friendly facility that graces the downtown Grand Rapids skyline. The four-story structure is the first-ever LEED certified YMCA, and one of the largest urban YMCAs in the country.

As a part of being a LEED certified facility, the David D. Hunting YMCA has many unique, energy-conscious and environmental friendly features:

Solar Power The David D. Hunting YMCA has a bank of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, located on the roof, four-stories above the swimming pools. The cells, on a sunny day, generate up to 18,000 watts of electricity. This electricity is consumed within the building, and supplements electrical energy supplied from a local utility provider. There is also an educational Solar Kiosk on the main floor that monitors the "real time" solar output of the system.

Heat Islands Heat islands form as cities replace natural land cover with pavement, buildings, and other infrastructure that absorb, rather than reflect, the sun's heat. The David D. Hunting YMCA has minimized the heat island effect by choosing paving materials that reflect the sun's heat, planting additional, quick-growing shade trees in specific locations on the site, and installing a white roof that reflects, rather than absorbs, the sun's energy.

• Heating and Cooling Systems From the ground floor swimming pools to the panoramic, third-story glass window walls, the David D. Hunting YMCA was carefully designed to achieve maximum heating and cooling efficiencies. These efficiencies are achieved through the following:
• Low-E Glass Low-emissivity glass allows light into the building while reflecting UV and infrared light. In the summer, Low-E glass reflects outside heat and in the winter reflects heat back inside.
• Boiler design There are three (3) high efficient boilers with modulating burners that provide most of the building's heat. Responding to demand, the boilers fire up as needed, and an integral computer consistently changes the lead boiler to minimize wear and tear.
• Chiller design Matching demand with output, high-efficiency, roof-mounted cooling is delivered to most of the building through a multiple-stage chiller with high turndown chillers. The cooling equipment uses non-ozone depleting CFC's.
• Pool Dehumidifier A roof-mounted high efficiency dehumidification system removes humidity from the pool area, captures the resulting heat and returns it to the aquatic area through heat exchangers.

Directions:
The David D. Hunting YMCA is located in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, just off US131 at the Pearl Street exit. Please note that Pearl Street changes to Lake Michigan Drive when it passes under US131 (to the west). The YMCA is at 475 Lake Michigan Drive. Solar tour participants are encouraged to use city parking lots #7 and #9 just adjacent (east and west) of the facility.

Click here for Mapquest area map

As energy costs increase, the effects on the basic budget for lower income families can be disastrous. This is an engineering challenge that the GVSU School of Engineering takes seriously as a neighbor on the West Side of Grand Rapids. For more than 20 years, Westown Jubilee Housing has provided an opportunity for families that might not qualify for a conventional mortgage to purchase and own a home on the West Side through its homesteading program. For homestead family #37, Westown Jubilee Housing has partnered with the School of Engineering at GVSU and Heartland Builders to design and build an exceptionally energy efficient and environmentally responsible house - the Green House on Watson at 845 Watson, S.W. The house has been certified as LEED-Silver under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED-H (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – for homes) program and has an Energy Star 5 Star-Plus rating.

The Green House on Watson features an exceptional thermal envelope: highly effective 9-inch thick insulated concrete form (ICF) walls extending from the basement to the energy trusses, exceptional windows (1/3 better than the Energy Star requirement), and an R-50 attic translate to heating demands that are less than half the demand for more conventional construction homes. Energy Star appliances, a high efficiency furnace, low-flow faucets and toilets further reduce demand – and to top it off, a closed loop solar hot water system (3 panels) and a 2 kW photovoltaic system (10 panels) will enable the house to capture much of its energy from the sun. The utility costs will be very low – the house will literally sip energy – even with a large family living in it.  With the furnace, clothes dryer, and stove all using natural gas, the house has consumed a total of about 540 CCF of gas over 11 months of a large family living inside the home.  The home also has the first pervious concrete residential driveway in the state of Michigan.  The property has also been professionally landscaped with minimal turf and a state-of-the-art energy efficient seeping irrigation system.

This was a community-built house. It is a fabulous community service opportunity for GVSU students and staff. Over 70 engineering students participated in the project and more than 20 local companies have been involved. It is definitely the biggest community service project undertaken by the School of Engineering – but not the first with benefits to the West Side neighborhood. What we learn from this house will be applicable to future projects and we will add what we learn from this single family house to other local LEED projects either recently completed or under construction.

Directions: From US 131 get off at the Pearl Street exit. West of 131 Pearl Street becomes Lake Michigan Drive. Take Lake Michigan Drive west about 1 block to Seward Ave and turn left on Seward one block (south) to Fulton Street. Turn right on Fulton (traveling west) to Indiana Avenue. There is a Certified Transmission place on the south-west corner of Fulton and Indiana. Turn left on Indiana and travel 2 blocks south to Watson Street. Turn right on Watson. The house is at 845 Watson S.W.

Click here for Mapquest area map

Haverkamp Home
5465 S Ferris, Newaygo

This Newaygo home was designed with and for Salle Haverkamp and her daughter Sara. It is a classic Passive Solar design with a 60 degree angled roof facing south with a solar hot water panel attached to capture the sun’s energy on a yearly basis. The large amount of window area on the South side was carefully sized to allow the sun into the house in the winter and has a T-shaped wall inside to absorb the heat during the day and release it at night into the home. The beautiful stone work on the wall along with the floor staining was done by Salle. A stone and tile and shell mosaic was done on the rear of the wall behind the woodstove by Salle’s artist friend Sharon Smithem.

You enter the home through a multi purpose area. It’s an airlock entry, sunspace, dog washing station, and mudroom combined. From there you enter the kitchen & dining area with 2 steps down to the living area and 1/2 bath. The furnace room is in the NW corner and also contains the controls for the solar hot water system. The North bermed wall is thermally isolated from the rest of the house to act as a cold storage area. A spiral stair rises from the East side of the T wall into the loft area which has 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, with a laundry room in the NE corner of the loft.

The south roof has an evacuated tube solar hot water panel on ti which will take care of most of the hot water needs. Another panel could be added to assist in the radiant floor heating system. The radiant floor (pex) tubing was installed by the homeowners with an insulating radon barrier beneath. This energy efficient house is mainly heated by a woodstove using wood harvested from the property with an estimated 1 cord of wood needed per year. An electric water heater is used for heat when the woodstove isn’t being used.

This house has many “green built” features including; wood flooring and some trim purchased and milled locally (Ash, Oak, and Maple), stones used from the site, a church pew integrated into the dining nook, spindle used from the site, used tempered glass panels for loft railings, an old butcher block and a vegetable waste bin located in the kitchen counter top, etc..

This is an Energy Star home which passed the Michigan Build specifications which are similar to the green build specs. Stop out and see us.   I, Dan Vos the builder- designer and Salle Haverkamp the owner will be here to answer questions.

Directions: Take M-37 North through Newaygo. Take the first left after the bridge and street light, which is 68th Street. Go to a 4-way stop and take a right – this is Ferris. Go a few miles to 5465 Ferris on the left. Drive back to the house, which is visible from the street.

Click here for Mapquest area map

Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC)
Grand Valley State University
200 Viridian Drive, Muskegon, MI

        

The 25,000 square foot MAREC facility is powered, in part, by a fuel cell which turns natural gas into electricity.  In addition, the buildings photovoltaic solar roof tiles harness the solar power generated by the sun to create useful energy.  The energy is stored in a nickel metal hydride batter system for use during peak energy consumption periods.  MAREC also utilizes energy efficiency features such as natural lighting, sensor-controlled interior lights, low-energy fluorescent light fixtures, under-floor air distribution, and zoned heating and cooling networks to achieve maximum energy efficiency.

The MAREC building has been certified LEED-GOLD and is only the tenth building in the country to receive this designation.  In addition to renewable energy, the building boasts many alternative and renewable building materials including flooring made from bamboo and recycled tires, and rigid wall surfaces made from pressed wheat. 

Directions from the East: Take I-96W towards Muskegon to the US-31N exit. Take US-31N to the North Muskegon exit, a left lane exit just one mile past the Apple Avenue exit. Stay in the left lane. First light is Getty Street. Follow Business 31 west into Muskegon. Move to the right lane. Take Shoreline Drive exit, stay in the right lane. Go approximately ½ mile to Terrace Street. Turn right on Terrace. Enter the traffic circle and continue on Viridian Drive. MAREC is at the end of the road and has a multiple curved/saddled roof design and the facility is mostly window. Sign at drive says, “Grand Valley State University, Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center.”

Directions from the South: Take US-31 northbound towards Muskegon to the North Muskegon exit, a left lane exit just one mile past the Apple Avenue exit. Stay in the left lane. First light is Getty Street. Follow Business 31 west into Muskegon. Move to the right lane. Take Shoreline Drive exit, stay in the right lane. Go approximately ¼ mile to Terrace Street. Turn right on Terrace. Enter the traffic circle and continue on Viridian Drive. MAREC is at the end of the road and has a multiple curved/saddled roof design and the facility is mostly windows. Sign at drive says, “Grand Valley State University, Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center.”

Directions from the North: Take US-31 south towards Muskegon to BR-31 toward downtown Muskegon. Stay in the left lane. First light is Getty Street. Follow Business 31 west into Muskegon. Move to the right lane. Take Shoreline Drive exit, stay in the right lane. Go approximately ¼ mile to Terrace Street. Turn right on Terrace. Enter the traffic circle and continue on Viridian Drive. MAREC is at the end of the road and has a multiple curved/saddled roof design and the facility is mostly windows. Sign at drive says, “Grand Valley State University, Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center.”

Click here for Google area map.

Newberry Place ~ www.newberryplace.org
812 Livingston Ave NE, Grand Rapids

  

Newberry Place is an urban cohousing community combining 20 private homes with sustainable neighborhood features.  Residents own their own homes in a pedestrian-friendly community, with parking on the perimeter.  The community dense design fosters strong relationships among neighbors, and creates shared and private green spaces.  Neighbors also share ownership of a large “common house” where they can enjoy group meals several times a week or participate in social events and other activities.

Each home includes Fiberglass Low-E/Argon windows, Solar Hot Water Heaters, Energy Recovery Ventilators, Foam Insulation, Interior Light Wells, Interior Green Building Materials, Energy Star rated Appliances, Natural Ventilation and Passive Solar Heating and Cooling.

Directions:
From US-131 South or North of Grand Rapids:
Merge onto I-196 East towards Lansing.  Take the College Ave Exit 78.  Turn Left on College Ave. Turn Left onto Hastings St (first stop light).  Take Hastings over Lafayette and Coit Ave.  Turn Right on Livingston Ave.  Livingston will dead end at Newberry Place, just past the park.  Look for signs to indicate the open home.

Click here for Google area map

Pierce Cedar Creek Institute
701 W. Cloverdale Rd, Hastings

See a number of different renewable energy and efficiency technologies at this institutional facility.  Highlights include the Education Building and Visitor Center, both of which are earth-bermed and utilize passive solar designs.  Other features include geothermal heating and cooling and a photovoltaic system.

Directions:
From Kalamazoo

Take the Sprinkle Rd exit from I-94 (exit number 80) turn north on Sprinkle Road. Turn right onto Gull Rd/MI-43. Continue to follow MI-43. Turn left onto MI-43/MI-89/32nd St N. in downtown Richland.  Continue to follow MI-43 for 13 miles. Turn right onto W. Cloverdale Rd (portions of this road are unpaved) and go approximately two and a half miles. The entrance will be on your right. Look for the yellow signs with "Pierce Cedar Creek" written on them.

From Battle Creek

Take the I-94-BR exit (exit number 92) toward Springfield/Battle Creek. Merge onto I-94 BR east toward Springfield/Battle Creek. Turn left onto MI-37/Helmer Rd N. Continue to follow MI-37 for approximately 15 miles.  Look for the Pierce Cedar Creek sign and Cloverdale Road.  Pierce Cedar Creek will be on your left in approximately 2 miles.

Click here for Mapquest area map | Click here for map on Pierce Cedar Creek web site

West Michigan Environmental Action Office
East Hills Center (of the Universe)
1007 Lake Drive SE, Grand Rapids

West Michigan Environmental Action Council’s office is located in the East Hills Center (of the Universe). This building project was a pilot project for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Core and Shell and LEED for Commercial Interiors. The building received a GOLD designation, as did WMEAC’s office interiors. We recently received notice that this makes our office the first in the nation to receive double gold certification. It is positioned within a “Cool Cities” project on a redeveloped brownfield, is highly visible and pedestrian friendly, sited in a mixed use neighborhood, following the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for new construction in a historic district. Incorporating a vegetative roof and rain garden into the site has made it the first commercial zero storm water discharge site in the city.

Interiors showcase furnishings and structural elements from local manufacturers, a commitment to reduction and recyclability of materials, a toxin-free environment, sound quieting technology, energy efficiency, energy/resource efficient appliances, and harvesting of natural light. The WMEAC office is a model of form, function, and aesthetics.

Directions: The WMEAC office is in the "Center of the Universe" Building on the corner of Diamond and Lake Drive. Take I-196 to the Fuller exit south to Lake Drive. Go right (west) 3 1/2 blocks. Parking is around the back.

Click here for Mapquest area map

Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association
URL: www.glrea.org
Email: info@glrea.org
Lansing:
(517) 646.6269
Toll Free:
1.800.434.9788

Join GLREA
Go to our membership area and find out how you can join GLREA!

Contact GLREA
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Current GLREA Board Members
Current GLREA Board Members

GLREA is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and contributions may be tax deductable.