Village Hall Energy Star Certified

Mount Pleasant Village Hall has been certified as an ENERGY STAR building, village officials announced.

Planning for the building included certain steps to make it as energy-efficient as possible, including geo-thermal heating and cooling and LED lighting fixtures.

“(Village Hall was) designed to be capable of obtaining LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver status,” explained Community Development Coordinator Logan Martin.

But, to fully receive that status could have cost upwards of $75,000 for LEED professionals to evaluate the building. Instead, the Environmental Protection Agency performed the ENERGY STAR evaluation at no cost to village residents using a federal tax credit program, Martin added.

The ENERGY STAR certification means Village Hall uses 35 percent less energy and generates 35 percent fewer greehouse gases than buildings of similar size constructed by more traditional means.

What that means for residents is lower utility bills overall.

“We took a stand for sustainability when we planned the Village Hall campus, from the materials we used, to the HVAC system to the landscaping,” Martin said. “In the end, it costs fewer tax dollars to maintain the building and those costs are expected to stay stable or even decline as the years go on.”

Village Hall was constructed using a $10 million donation from the Ebe family and was completed in April 2011.