Genesis of Ann Arbor was Awarded for the 2023 Michigan Battle of the Buildings Competition in the Water Category
This year we celebrated 10 years of the Michigan Energy Summit and 10 years of amazing projects and energy efficiency initiatives! Over the past 10 years, we have had a total of 149 winners from 75 different organizations, representing 264 Michigan cities. Since the program's inception in 2014, our competitors have redirected over $100 million of utility costs back to their bottom line and avoided almost 550,000 metric tons of CO2e. Over 272 million square feet of Michigan commercial real estate competed against each other in 2023 in this biggest loser-styled energy competition. The 2023 Michigan Battle of the Buildings competitors saved $7.4 million in energy costs and avoided 47,178 metric tons of CO2e which is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 55,514 acres of US forests in one year! This year we had 11 industry-specific category winners. We are so excited to announce Genesis of Ann Arbor as the 2023 Michigan Battle of the Buildings winner in the Water Category!
Genesis of Ann Arbor is a unique and equal partnership between St Clare’s Episcopal Church and Temple Beth Emeth. This partnership started 50 years ago. The idea is that the Church uses the building on Sunday and the Temple uses it on Friday evening and Saturday. The building is located about one mile from the University of Michigan Stadium at 2309 Packard Street, Ann Arbor, MI.
Genesis is the non-profit organization that is charged with maintaining the building and nurturing the relationship between the two congregations. Genesis also rents to Blue Ocean Faith, which also uses the building on Sundays. Ann Arbor Children’s House also rents space for its Montessori School. Four institutions, through the assistance of one, are able to collaborate and share this wonderful space. The Genesis organization’s Green Team motto is: “Genesis Greening - building to reduce carbon emissions - all together.” This is a double, double entendre. Their goal is to make their building carbon neutral by 2030. Genesis has also adopted (in September 2021) Green Guidelines, which is a comprehensive document to help guide the sustainable use of their building.
The City of Ann Arbor has web-based tracking of water use. It’s called Aquahawk and it provides daily data on water use and environmental conditions. This allowed the Green Team to determine large water-use days as an aid to water-use containment. For example, the team noticed high water use during the days that their adopt-a-plotter program individuals were watering the gardens on the Genesis grounds. They then worked with the program members to come up with a plan to reduce their water usage.
The water-use efficiency improvements were all done in 2022 and early 2023. The team also noted that their water efficiency improvements were made without applying for rebates. When possible, solutions were accomplished by volunteer congregants or facility staff members.
Genesis started its water-savings project during the pandemic in early 2022. Their Green Team has continued to institute water-savings efforts and is still actively pursuing both energy and water savings. The Genesis Board has encouraged water-savings and approved three leaky faucet replacements, which cost about $1000. One of the faucets was replaced by a volunteer congregant. Additionally a classroom and the paint-room faucets were replaced by a plumber (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. New faucet in paint room
When obsolete, toilets have been replaced with dual-flush options. See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Dual flush toilet
The building’s kitchen is equipped with a very old commercial dishwasher, which had old fittings and plumbing. They replaced the leaky and rusty connector machine, which was done by a plumber for about $500. See Figure 3.
Figure 3. Hobart Commercial Dishwasher
The team also noted that one of their most exciting solutions was that an environmentally conscious congregant, Ralph Katz, used his plumbing knowledge and acumen to circumnavigate all the bathrooms in the Genesis building and adjusted flush volumes down and fixed leaking toilets. They noted that this was likely one of the major contributions to their water savings.
Additionally, Genesis was presented with an E2P2 Award from Washtenaw County in October 2023 for Waste Reduction and Recycling. See Environmental Excellence Awards | Washtenaw County, MI. The organization is not only a leader in recycling, composting, and water-savings, but they have taken significant steps in reducing their carbon footprint since the beginning of the pandemic. The building has 160 solar panels (see Figure 4). An investor model was used to purchase the panels, which went live in February 2020. For more information on the installation and the investor model, see the following links (4-minute interview link is a good overview):
Interview with Murray Rosenthal - YouTube (4 minute interview)
WJN-09-20-web.pdf (washtenawjewishnews.org) – see page 7.
WJN-04-21-web.pdf (washtenawjewishnews.org) – see pages 1 and 2.
Link to mLive article about our solar project
Figure 4. The Genesis solar installation
The organization plans on adding more solar panels to increase their solar generation by about 50%. They also plan to reduce their utility costs by 15% in the next fiscal year (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025).
Genesis completed a comprehensive energy audit in 2015 and completed many of the recommended improvements, including new windows, adding insulation and installing LED lights. They also completed a decarbonization plan that they are currently executing. The team is currently considering installing a district geothermal system in conjunction with the City of Ann Arbor and the Ann Arbor Public Schools, as well as installing EV charging stations.
We were excited to celebrate Genesis of Ann Arbor’s accomplishments in water efficiency and their overall usage reduction of 60.23% at our annual Michigan Energy Summit on May 8, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they were awarded in the Water Category!