We've blogged about Frank Mauceri and his green business before, now he has wind turbines and other innovative features in his home as well.
Twirling like huge white sculptures, two 10-foot wind turbines sit atop the roof on Frank and Lisa Mauceri's Bucktown home, part of a system the couple hopes will make them selfsufficient in producing electricity.
They are the first wind turbines approved in Chicago for a private residence and are among a growing number of wind power devices appearing in the Chicago area as businesses and homeowners search for alternatives that will cut utility costs.
Unlike the massive pinwheel-style towers on commercial wind farms, the turbines at the Mauceri home resemble oversized, elongated screws. They whir as quietly as mobiles in the autumn wind and are integrated to work with 30 solar panels fashioned into a breezeway on the green roof garden. Both function with a geothermal heating and cooling system.
The installation is a pilot project expected to supply from 40 to 70 percent of the annual electrical needs at the couple's 3,800-square-foot renovated brick building.
Frank, 42, and Lisa Mauceri, 40, are the owners of Smog Veil Records, an independent record licensing and publishing company, which they moved to Chicago two years ago after living in Cleveland and Reno, Nev.
Advocates for eco-friendly packaging in their business, they decided to make reducing energy consumption a top priority in the rehab of the 100-year old former tavern where they now work and live.
[From Green power -- chicagotribune.com]
We'd have to change our condo by-laws to install wind turbines due to a height restriction, but we can dream...
There are 60-foot wells dug under the basement and garage so air naturally heated by the Earth to a constant 55 degrees is used for more efficient heating and cooling. The green roof, which is a garden retreat as well as entertaining area, provides added insulation with several inches of soil and plants.
Appliances were selected on the basis of energy efficiency, some exceeding the well-publicized Energy Star rating.
Already advocates of green and recycled materials, Wilkinson found the Mauceris also "were open to on-site power generation."
For that, the architect turned to Bil Becker, a retired industrial design professor from the University of Illinois Chicago who has worked with solar energy and urban wind generators since the late 1970s.
Becker founded Chicago-based Aerotecture International, which produces wind turbines, four years ago. Becker's machines, which are found in California, New Jersey and upstate New York, can be seen in several locations around the Chicago area including the rooftop of the law office of Magee, Negele & Associates in Round Lake and atop the distinctive Helmut Jahn-designed Near North Apartments for Mercy Housing near Division Street and Clybourn Avenue in Chicago.
The Mauceri project gave him the opportunity to demonstrate the viability of the devices in a densely populated residential area.
"Solar, which has been around for residential use since at least the 1970s, is much easier to add to homes and there have been significant improvements in the technology," Becker said. "It is harder to add wind machines because they add height and run afoul of building codes and neighborhood standards. In addition, there is a perception they are noisy, ugly and may endanger birds."
Wilkinson spearheaded getting the proposal approved by city officials. It took three months of meetings and a change in the city's zoning code which opened the door to other urban wind turbines on structures.
Becker coordinated the installation of the turbines atop the two-story building. He used a combination of solar and wind equipment to capture energy from the sun during the summer months and to harness the high winds of winter to make the building "a miniature power plant."
The addition of the turbines happily was within the neighborhood height requirements and, because the wind system is at the rear of the roof, the turbines are mostly hidden from view at street level. They must operate quietly, no louder than "ambient" noise in the area. And a cage was designed and built to enclose them to protect birds from flying into them and as insurance there will be no parts flying through the air in case of wind shear.
