technologies, such as light-emitting diode
(LED) streetlamps, to reduce energy use.
Greensburg is becoming a net-zero-energy
community with regard to its electricity—an
energy efficient community that generates as
much electricity from renewable energy as it
uses. It sets a new standard, not just for its
own citizens, but for other rural and urban
communities as well (Figure 1).
that destroyed their town, the townspeople
have embraced it as the foundational build-
ing block of their new community, even
donning t-shirts with the phrase coined by
Greensburg GreenTown: “Greensburg—A
Wind-Wind Situation.”
The town is already home to a 50-k W tur-
bine at the new hospital, two smaller turbines
at the BTI-Greensburg John Deere dealer-
RENEWABLES
ship, and three small turbines at the 5. 4. 7
Arts Center. The new school also plans to
install a 50-k W turbine.
Construction is also under way for the
Greensburg Wind Farm, which will consist of 10 Suzlon 1.25-MW wind turbines
with a capacity of 12. 5 MW of renewable
power—enough energy to power 4,000
modest homes. It is planned for completion
First in Green Lighting
One of the town’s first completed green projects illuminates the downtown sidewalks and
streets every night. Greensburg is the first
city in the U.S. to use LED lamps for 100%
of its street lighting.
By replacing the existing 303 sodium vapor lights with LED fixtures, Greensburg improved outdoor lighting energy efficiency by
40% and reduced the cost of related energy
and maintenance by an estimated 70%.
As an added bonus, the new lamps reduce
nighttime light pollution by focusing light
where it is needed—on the ground rather
than in the night sky.
1. Plan for the future. A Greensburg master development plan was developed to guide
the city’s recovery and growth over the next 20 years. Source: City of Greensburg, Kansas
A “Wind-Wind” Situation
One of the most remarkable aspects of the
Greensburg project is the town’s commitment to renewable energy and, in particular, wind. Far from distrusting the force
Green-Powered Government and Businesses
The 95-year-old Kiowa County Courthouse
(Greensburg is the Kiowa County seat),
one of the few structures left standing
after the tornado, has been renovated
with sustainable features and is striving
for LEED Gold certification—an especially
2. Better than new. The Kiowa County Courthouse, originally built in 1914, was
one of the few buildings not destroyed by
the tornado. However, its glass-block windows were broken, the roof was blown off,
and the interior was extensively water damaged. The tornado also picked up a vehicle
from the nearby police impounds lot and
crashed it through the roof. The building has
since been completely renovated. Courtesy:
Kansas Geological Society
admirable goal, because the facility is
being modified rather than replaced.
Today, the building is one of the greenest
historic buildings in the country thanks
to extensive use of reclaimed materials,
state-of-the-art windows, and native
landscaping (Figure 2).
The courthouse uses a specialized multistage heat pump system that extracts both
heat and cooling from the ground through
a series of thirty-two 300-ft vertical wells.
The ground source heat pumps are rated
based on size, with an energy efficiency
ratio ranging from 14. 1 to 18. 7 for cooling
and a coefficient of performance ranging
from 3. 1 to 3. 8 for heating. The heat pumps
utilize high-efficiency motors and fans and
exhaust energy recovery ventilators supply
outdoor air to each heat pump.
Growing Businesses with
Green Power
The two-story SunChips Business Incuba-
tor is home to temporary, low-cost office
space for as many as 10 small businesses
rebounding from the tornado or starting
from scratch. Like all larger structures
owned by the city of Greensburg, the fa-
cility is built to LEED Platinum standards.
A 6.8-kW photovoltaic system supplies
approximately 10% of the building’s total
energy needs. The Business Incubator also
features a specialized ground-source heat
pump system that extracts both heat and
cooling from the ground through 21 ver-
tical well shafts, 340 feet deep each. As
in the courthouse system, heat pumps are
rated based on size; their energy efficiency
ratings range from 14. 1 to 18. 7 for cool-
ing while coefficients of performance range
from 3. 1 to 3. 8 for heating.
