By Hannah Campbell
The sun shining above and the earth resting below Chattanooga are the renewable energy resources of this generation and many local companies are positioned to help homeowners and businesses take advantage of their benefits.
Big Frog Mountain on Hixson Pike has solutions that people can easily use to achieve green energy. One simple offering is a tubular skylight that allows the sun to penetrate attics, providing natural light to be used instead of electricity.
Big Frog’s Sandy Fox installed Sharp solar panels on her roof at first to power her fish pond pump. Now her system takes care of 17 percent of her home’s total electricity bill, reimbursed to her by EPB each month at a higher outsourced energy rate.
Fox’s panels provide 560 kWh of power, enough to continuously power eight 70-watt bulbs. The system keeps her refrigerator and heater fan going in case of power outage.
Chattanooga’s Engineered Services Cooperative wants area residents to be aware of the alternative energy solutions available, which are considered to be better for the environment than standard HVAC systems because they have much greater Energy Efficiency Ratings and make use of such free energy sources as geothermal and solar power.
According to ESC, the basic concept behind geothermal systems is much simpler than many people expect. Because the ground stays at a relatively constant temperature below a depth of two feet, it is a reservoir of heat in the winter and heat sink in the summer. A geothermal heat pump conducts water through a pipe buried in the ground, naturally warming a house in the winter and naturally cooling it in the summer.
Geothermal heating and cooling is “using the earth’s constant temperature to heat or cool a house,” says Barge Waggoner environmental engineering graduate Roy Ellis.
Gary Waters, Hamilton County Schools facilities superintendent, said the district’s three current projects, East Hamilton Middle/High School, Hixson Middle School and Signal Mountain Middle/High School, are required to install geothermal heating and cooling systems. He said the requirement is determined on a case-by-case basis, but most upper schools can handle the high initial cost for lower heating and cooling energy bills later.
“We feel like the payback is good,” says Waters, who expects a return on the investment in eight to 10 years.
Chattanooga’s Aerisyn, one of only a few U.S. windmill manufacturers, hopes to harness wind power. The company located in the Scenic City in 2005, investing $9 million in equipment and capital improvements to the former Combustion Engineering building.
The Aerisyn wind towers, which are 200 feet to 350 feet tall and up to 15 feet in diameter at the base, are a component of the cutting-edge wind turbine industry that constitutes the world’s fastest growing alternative energy source.
“There’s so much happening,” says Mark Harrison, senior site works engineer with Aquaterra, a local engineering firm that specializes in environmental planning.
Aquaterra's Chattanooga Office maintains the staff, equipment and facilities to provide full service to the earth science and land development markets while recognizing the need to maintain the balance of ecology in an increasingly urbanized and industrialized society.
For Collier Construction, building green begins with practical planning. For instance, positioning a home to receive direct sunlight during the winter and shade during the summer. It’s using 4-foot eaves that keep warming sunrays out of windows while allowing natural sunlight to brighten a home. It’s insulating the crawl space and using advanced framing to keep good air from escaping the home and prevent mold and mildew from taking up residence.
Though this sounds simple, Collier proves that green construction is more than a quick fix. It is sustainable. The home sustains itself because it’s built to endure seasonal change and utilize the environment. For example, Collier can irrigate the lawn with rainwater runoff, not city water, or use the sun to brighten a home and cut down on the use of light bulbs. Collier can also install 100% recycled siding, and in 50 years, recycle it if the owner doesn’t like it anymore.
Another Chattanooga business, Southeast Coatings, offers Rhino Shield Ceramic Coatings that are applied to the exterior of any home that not only beautify but also waterproof, remain breathable, bond permanently, reflect heat from the sun and eliminate the need to re-apply the coatings for decades.
A system of three coatings begins with a polymer-based adhesive that bonds permanently to any paintable surface and completely waterproofs as well. The second coating (optional) is a flexible ceramic membrane that utilizes 3M Ceramic Technology to help insulate the walls from thermal shock reducing expansion and contraction as well as lowering energy usage. The final finish coat contains the same 3M Ceramics as the second Thermal Insulating Coat and uses three different resins to create a film that remains breathable, flexible, and is tougher than traditional house paints.
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