Greensburg GreenTown is a charitable, nonprofit organization working in Greensburg, Kansas to rebuild the town following the devastating tornado in May of 2007. The town has made a remarkable comeback, reinventing itself as a model for sustainable building and green living now recognized around the world. GreenTown’s mission is to make green building and living easily understood, appealing and accessible to all. For contact info, click here. Click here for the 3 winners! 
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 04:15PM by Catherine Hart 
We tend to use this space to write in-depth articles about various building projects and other Green Initiative news coming from Greensburg. Today we thought we’d give readers an overview of a “normal” week of life in America’s Model Green Community.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 10:16AM by Catherine Hart
Recently, GreenTown represented the community at Wichita’s second annual Regional Energy & Sustainability Conference. We were invited to have a booth at the event which ran January 22-23 at Wichita State University. Our booth, staffed by Andrew Ryan and Catherine Hart, featured brochures and display boards from several Greensburg projects, and we ran a Power Point presentation about the community’s history and rebuilding throughout weekend. Mike Estes, manager of the local John Deere dealership, spoke about BTI Wind Energy on the Corporate Sustainability Panel Friday morning. GreenTown Director Daniel Wallach was asked to speak at a break-out session on Friday, and joined Simran Sethi as keynote speaker at Saturday’s luncheon. (Simran is an award-wining journalist and associate professor of journalism at the University of Kansas. She has reported on sustainability issues for numerous media outlets and on a host of shows, including CNBC, Oprah, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Sundance Channel, The Today Show, to name a few. We are fortunate to have her friendship and her heartfelt support of the Green Initiative.)
Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 11:21PM by Catherine Hart 
As part of the stimulus package passed by Congress, there are training opportunities for people who aim to work as Energy Auditors in the State of Kansas. The State Energy Office has approved only 3 training facilities in the state which can certify Energy Auditors to perform the “before and after” tests that are required for homeowners who participate in the new Efficiency Kansas weatherization programs.
Greensburg GreenTown is partnering with the Metropolitan Energy Center and the Energy and Environmental Training Center of Kansas City to bring this qualifying training to Greensburg February 8-12 for a hands-on learning session.
The location of this training is a great opportunity for people in the building trades in central and western Kansas to gain the skills necessary to perform home energy audits – which is a booming profession. Under the Efficiency Kansas program, homeowners and small businesses can apply for loans to make improvements to their residences and buildings that will save them significant amounts of money on their energy bills. Energy Auditors carefully measure a building’s current energy usage (the “before” audit), offer detailed remedies, and once the efficiency measures are implemented, return for a second measurement (“after”).
Students who come to town for this training will attend classes at the John Deere Wind Energy facility on the BTI-Greensburg campus, and will apply their new skills on an existing local home. This training program is yet another example of how Greensburg has positioned itself as a hub where people can come to learn about energy efficiency and all aspects of sustainability.
For more information about the Energy Auditor training program, contact Shery.EnergyTrainingCenter (at) gmail.com or 816-377-3738. Please see the attached flyer for more detail.
photo credit: edge-gogreen.com
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 05:06PM by Catherine Hart 
Greensburg is one of the small American communities featured in an article posted January 15 on Oprah Winfrey's website. Reporter Erin White wrote Small Towns Going Green, which highlights the "green revolution" taking place in rural Midwestern America. Greensburg is featured on page 3 of this article, which also showcases the efforts of two other towns. Rock Port, Missouri (pop. 1,400) built a wind farm that provides 100% of the town's electricity needs. Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin (pop. 600) made the decision to come back using solar power in the 1970s after a severe flood prompted City leaders to move the whole community to higher ground. The history of this then-radical decision is recounted by filmmaker Brian Kosisky in his excellent documentary Solar Town, USA. This movie also includes a segment about Greensburg's decision to rebuild after the tornado as a model of sustainability. Ms. White interviewed GreenTown Director Daniel Wallach for the Oprah piece; among other things, he talks about how Greensburg is taking to heart the experience learned in Soldiers Grove.
The bottom line is that we're all here to learn from each other. In Greensburg we tell visitors that we are happy to share with them ideas about what to do - and what not to do. We have been accumulating lots of experience in this 32-month experiment in rebuilding as America's Model Green Community, and contained within our many successes have been lots of challenges and learning opportunities as well. We hope that other rural towns can find inspiration from what is happening in Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and all throughout the country. As the years unfold, we look forward to reading about how other folks are implementing their visions for their hometowns.
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 09:50AM by Catherine Hart
On February 5 at 1 p.m. (Central time) the Pollution Prevention Institute of Kansas State University will host a free Green Roofs Webinar. This one-hour presentation will highlight examples of completed green roof projects with a focus on modular installations. The course promises to teach practical ways to get a green roof project off the ground (so to speak). Pre-registration is required - click on the link above to go to the registration page. To sign up by phone, call 1-800-578-8898 or 785-532-6501.
Several green roofs can be found in Greensburg - at the GreenTown Silo Eco-Home, the 5.4.7 Arts Center, and coming soon to City Hall. Because our roof at the Silo Home is solid concrete, we are able to have soil deep enough to grow root vegetables. Not only are green roofs beautiful, they offer many benefits to the home or business owner. The vegetation insulates the roof, thereby reducing energy costs and lowering outside noise; extends the life of the roof (by as much as two or three times the normal lifespan); provides a wild bird habitat; filters pollutants; and offers stormwater management. In urban areas, green roofs can significantly lower air temperatures in the summer, combating the "heat island" effect.
Attend the webinar and learn how to get started on your own green roof.
The image above showcases the green roof atop Chicago's City Hall.
Monday, January 25, 2010 at 10:00AM by Catherine Hart 
Steve, Dayle & Kevin Heft
Heft & Sons, a local Greensburg business with a long history in Kiowa County, made a significant year-end contribution to GreenTown's Silo Eco-Home project. Their donation is pivotal in helping us get the house completed; soon we will be open to receive overnight guests.
Dayle Heft went to work for his father-in-law over 50 years ago, when the business was called Seacat & Heft. Under his management, what started out as a gravel plant has expanded over the years into ready-mix concrete and asphalt for highway projects and farm and ranch needs. The Hefts currently employ 45 people, and Dayle's sons Steve and Kevin, and nephew Jim carry on the family tradition, and they are joined in the office by several other members of the family. Heft is involved in projects throughout the state of Kansas.
The family was impacted by the tornado in a major way, as was everyone else in the area. But given the tremendous amount of concrete work and road building that was called for in the wake of the storm's damage, the business stepped up immediately to meet local needs and provide essential services. They have recycled 30,000 tons of concrete since the storm, crushing it for re-use and keeping it out of the landfill. They have switched to warm-mix asphalt in their Greensburg street paving project, which is cited as a strategy to greatly reduce fuel consumption and lower emissions compared to the traditional hot-mix technique. They are also recycling asphalt (used as a base for road construction), which is mixed in with new asphalt.
The Heft family continues to explore ways to make their business even more sustainable. They built their office and shop back after the tornado incorporating a variety of resource-saving technologies, including floors heated by hot water, soy-based insulation, and a parking lot containing fly-ash (a by-product of the coal industry).
The gift from Heft & Sons represents sponsorship of the lovely second-story deck at the Silo Eco-Home, with one of the best views in town. A plaque bearing their name which will be on display at the home, as will be the case with our other generous benefactors. Says Dayle of their gift: "We're all for progress. We wanted to sponsor GreenTown, as we have with Kiowa County United, the Arts Center, and the school. We're hometown people and want to see Greensburg thrive and come back."
We are grateful to all of our magnanimous donors. It is particularly special when support comes from the local community.
Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 08:20PM by Catherine Hart 
On January 12, the Institute for Sustainable Communities convened a group of experts on sustainable disaster recovery in Washington, D.C. The all-day session featured speakers from around the country, including GreenTown's Daniel Wallach, who made presentations to about 100 representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Homeland Security, and other governmental agencies. The purpose of the program was to inform policy makers about obstacles that communities have faced related to disaster recovery, so that they can make recommendations to the President about how the federal government can become more efficient and effective in their response to communities.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 10:08PM by Catherine Hart GreenTown Project Manager Joah Bussert took these photos from atop the grain elevator on January 20.
The downtown business district, looking southeast.
View to the southwest, with the community wind farm 3 miles outside of town. The turbines are slated to be operational next month.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 12:50PM by Catherine Hart
We are pleased to announce a generous gift from Savvy Rest Organic Mattresses, a company headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. They are partnering with GreenTown by furnishing an organic mattress and accessories to the bed and breakfast suite in our Silo Eco-Home. As far as we know, this will be Greensburg's first organic bed.
Laura Wallace, Savvy Rest's Marketing Director, has this to say about their gift:
Some green enterprises are about technology. Others are inspired by earlier times when the objects people touched in their daily lives were made of natural materials, rather than chemical soup. In Greensburg, the past's common sense and the future's urgent needs intersect. Greensburg GreenTown is America's home address for hope in a sustainable future. We all need to visit there, even if only in our dreams.
Savvy Rest is very proud to support Greensburg GreenTown with our unique organic mattress, for the sleep you've been dreaming of....
Reading about conventional mattresses on Savvy Rest's website is a real eye-opener. The company's founder, Michael Penny, was a long-time yoga teacher who went to work for a futon company and learned about the mattress business in the process. He says, "As I learned what toxic chemicals and allergens wind up in mattresses these days, it became my life's work to create a healthy, comfortable alternative." Since 2003 they have offered a line of mattresses constructed of natural latex and certified organic wool and cotton.
As part of their mission, they are committed to a sustainable work environment that treats employees and customers alike with respect and care. We are happy to be associated with this company, are grateful for their gift, and encourage readers to educate themselves about options for healthier sleep.
We are taking reservations for overnight stays at the Silo Eco-Home, as we will be open for business very soon! Please write us at info @ greensburggreentown.org or call 620-723-2790 for more information. You can take the Savvy Rest mattress for a test drive during your visit to Greensburg.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 09:38PM by Catherine Hart 
image credit: supportforums.blackberry.com
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building Technologies Program is hosting the third in a series of webinars this month. Entitled Greensburg, Kansas: Lessons Learned and Steps Forward, the program on Tuesday, January 12 will feature four people with different vantage points about the Green Initiative.