The Center for EcoTechnology (CET) through a joint venture with Columbia Gas of Massachusetts has renovated a century old brick mill building, a historic construction, through a green renovation process to achieve 60% energy savings when compared to traditional renovation methods.
Columbia Gas funded $50,000 for energy upgrades to complete the green renovation process. CET has also obtained the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources funding and federal stimulus energy grants to fund the project.
The new renovated construction will be occupied by EcoBuilding Bargains Store, a retail establishment engaged in trading not-for profit recycled building materials. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nearly half of the energy intake in the USA valued around $2 billion a year is consumed by older manufacturing plants and commercial constructions. The EcoBuilding Bargain Store will consume only half of the energy consumed by other normal buildings of the same size.
The retrofitting and energy efficient conversion of the historic structure located at 83 Warwick St, previously occupied by a furniture house was completed with an investment of around $3.3 million. The construction incorporates a number of sustainable practices and is fully insulated to bring down the heat loss drastically and its annual gas utility cost is expected to come down from the earlier $20,000 a year to mere $8,000. The old industrial property has been transformed into a green construction with features such as efficient lighting fixtures, latest heating and ventilation systems, windows and loading docks and weather-stripped doors.
Source: http://www.cetonline.org/