November 5th, 2007
AUSTIN – It started with a sunflower – a lone sunflower on a newly cleared construction site. Kent Burress recalls seeing that single bloom, unexpectedly growing from the dirt where the new solar-powered Ronald McDonald House of Austin would be, and thinking it must be a good sign. He was right.
That was two short years ago, and as the executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas (RMHC-ACT) had hoped, the 31,000 square-foot structure will soon open to the public, marking new territory for the global charity. On Dec. 17, Burress and his staff will officially relocate guest families from the old (non-green, circa 1985) location in downtown Austin to the new eco-friendly facility just northeast of the city center.
When it opens, the RMHC-ACT structure will be the only Ronald McDonald House in the country, possibly in the world (out of 269 total), to be partially solar-powered and fully green built.
“We are so thankful that we could do this, and that we can share a vision,” says Burress, who spearheaded the project. Its construction costs will total $9.3 million when complete – about $1.5 million more than if it hadn’t been built “green.”
Part of the international network that houses families while their children receive medical care, the new Austin House will debut with at least half of its family suites powered by solar energy (10.8 kiloWatt capacity), thanks in part to Texas-based Green Mountain Energy. Green Mountain donated and funded installation of the 54-panel rooftop array, and Austin’s Global Energy Designs installed the solar panels. The House also uses energy- efficient appliances, reclaimed water for its landscaping, recycled and recyclable building materials, terrace gardens to offset heat, closed-circulation heat and cooling systems and a host of other green techniques and designs.
Not only will the new structure more than double its former capacity, with 30 suites as opposed to the 13 at the previous site, it will keep its guests healthier and more comfortable than the old one ever could have – which was Burress’s primary goal. And, he says, the fact that it will be healthier for the environment (and the regional chapter’s budget) could inspire other Ronald McDonald Houses to follow suit.
“We’re sort of like a laboratory for the others,” says Burress.
“They can look at what we’ve done and see, ‘Did it work, can it be replicated?’… This just shows that it can be done.”
He explains that, compared to the old structure – 13,000 square feet, with an average utility bill of $38,000 to $40,000 annually – the new one, with nearly three times more square footage than its elder sibling, is expected to spend approximately $22,000 on power needs each year. (You, dear reader, can do the math on that one!)
The 950-square-foot solar array was possible through Green Mountain Energy’s Big Texas Sun Club, a solar-energy program underwritten by Green Mountain customers who choose to join, paying $5 extra per month to fund solar projects. To date, nine have been built in Texas through the “club”, and when finished, the RHMC-ACT will be the 10th funded by the innovative program.
“I don’t know that we could have chosen a more perfect fit for us,” says Green Mountain’s Paul Markovich, vice president of Residential Services for Green Mountain, one of the largest clean-energy providers in the country. “As a company, our mission is to change the way power is made, and when you put solar power out there, there’s zero emissions… . When you combine that with what the Ronald McDonald House Charities do, they’re just a perfect partner for us.”
It’s all about better health – for the families who use the Austin facility, and for the environment itself. According to estimates, the solar system will offset 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent of 33,000 driven miles (RMHC-ACT and Green Mountain compare it to 85 roundtrips between Dallas and Austin).
Fittingly, the cutting-edge structure resides in one of America’s greenest-building cities, the Texas state capital, and will be within walking distance of another local health care green giant – the recently opened Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.
Austin’s new Ronald McDonald House is one of a network that has served literally tens of millions of people since the Ronald McDonald “home away from home” concept began in 1974. And the demand for inexpensive temporary housing near medical care (guests pay $5 a night) never lets up: At present the Austin charity has a waiting list of three to five families per day, Burress says. So a newer, larger building couldn’t have come at a better time. “The average stay is about 21 days, but we sometimes see families that stay for 10 to 11 months,” the executive director says.
Guests come from out of town, often in the midst of a sudden medical crisis, or sometimes for periodic ongoing care for children with cancer, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and other serious ailments. At the Austin facility, long-term-guest suites are on the
third floor, while shorter term visitors occupy the first and second; the first floor has a state-of-the-art community kitchen with water- and energy-saving appliances. In fact, Burress says, the entire site has received the highest rating, a Platinum, from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Throughout the four-story building are a community meeting room that local organizations can use, a business center/computer room, a video game center, a TV room and game area with pool table. Each floor, and each of the two wings, has a nook with recycling bins, which are collected daily.
“Our main goal was to make the families feel as comfortable as we can,” Burress says, adding that the House’s proximity to the new Dell hospital should make it even more reassuring to guests. He points out that no matter where you are inside the House, it is designed with a plethora of windows so one can see the Dell hospital to the south and a soon-to-be park and medical complex to the north.
“Our guests can look out the windows and see that it’s maybe a minute and a half walk to the children’s hospital,” he says, “and I think that is very reassuring.”
The structure’s aesthetics also were designed to soothe and provide maximum efficiency: The S-curving corridors, which keep the eye moving, is a design element with strong psychological benefits, Burress says. Each room has its own closed-air loop and six-inch-thick walls for optimum insulation – and because the power is activated by the room key, its energy requirements drop to almost nothing when guests are away.
The blend of practicality and sensitivity extends beyond the house’s interior, though. Outside the south-facing entrance, a butterfly garden is under construction, as is a playground and even a putting green. The site’s entire perimeter will be surrounded by trees, and most of the public-space terraces will have gardens to absorb heat from the sun and reduce guests’ stress).
“We knew it was going to be good,” Burress says of the soon-to-debut Ronald McDonald House, “but this is just beyond great.”
Copyright © 2007 | Distributed by Noofangle Media
