Builders making progress on Berea College
Ecovillage
By Andy McDonald
 Construction crews work to frame one of three student apartment complexes in the Ecovillage, which Berea College officials say will be ready for students this fall. |
When the Berea College Ecovillage opens later this year, it will unlike any other facility of its kind in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. But college officials are hoping it won’t be the only ecologically friendly community, just the first. Builders began construction on the 5-acre, $8.5 million project last fall, employing ecologically sustainable or “green” principles to construct a small community of environmentally friendly buildings. The facility will include 32 apartments for married and single-parent students, a child development laboratory, a common dining area, as well as a house that will be occupied by five students from Berea’s Sustainability and Environmental Studies (program) SENS. |
Significant progress has been made on three of the apartment buildings in the village that front Washington Street. Those buildings are expected to be ready for occupation this fall, while the other apartments, which will front Jefferson Street, will be completed soon thereafter.
“The apartment phase is going very well,” said Diane Kerby, Vice President for Business and Finance at Berea College. “Completion date is late August for one set, mid to September for the other set.”
Both the SENS House and the child development lab are still in
the design phase, as project planners are working to revise development
drawings to meet the college’s projected construction budget
for the structures. But construction for both could begin within
the next six or seven months, Kerby said. It is hoped that solid waste can be reduced by 50 percent by encouraging composting and recycling. Water demand will be reduced by 75 percent, according to the plan, as rainwater will be captured and diverted from the roofs in the village, while gray water, which could come from sources such as dishwater, will be diverted to irrigate vegetable gardens in the facility. |
 Berea College President Larry Shinn stands in front of the Living Machine. |
Energy use will also be reduced by 75 percent if all goes according to plan. Buildings will employ passive solar design to take advantage of natural heat and light from the sun, trees will be placed for optimum cooling in the summer, and 10 percent of the village’s power needs will be generated through solar panels and other on-site tools such as pedal powered generators.
The Ecovillage will be connected to the Berea sewer system, but wastewater will initially be treated with a living machine – a system of plants and pools that will clean wastewater naturally, without chemicals.
College officials are hoping to use the living machine to collect data, but once enough information is collected, presumably proving that the living machine can clean water to swimable quality water, college officials hope to petition the state to use the living machine permanently – without the city sewer system.
 Work continues on the Ecovillage apartment complexes, three of which are expected to be completed by late spring. |
The Ecovillage could also play an important role as a model of sustainable living in the broader community, says SENS Director Richard Olson. Tours of the Ecovillage will be available once the facility is fully operational, and the Kentucky Artisan Center Berea, which will likely open in early summer, is projected to attract 400,000 visitors annually. Could viewing the Ecovillage win over consumers and builders that might not otherwise be interested in buying or employing green design? Olson says it is very possible. |
“I think the thing that will most bring people over to seeing the value of some aspects of ecological design is when they can see the physical Ecovillage – when they see that it’s an attractive place to live,” Olson said.
“We can then say, ‘Oh, and it uses three-fourths less energy.’ I think straight dollars and cents will convince them,” Olson explained. “What do people have as models for housing? It’s just what’s being built. The standard is the same old, same old. I think that’s going to make the difference – having something they can see and touch.”
Earth Island Journal will publish an article by Andy about Berea College’s sustainability initiative in its spring 2003 issue, available online next month.
