Mountain View Electric Association is expanding their Falcon location. The project incorporates many energy saving features and will more than double the size of the existing facility for a total of 87,000 square feet of office space, equipment storage and truck parking.Rod Hilt, MVEA project manger, said the construction visible from Woodmen Road is the beginning of a two-story office building. When the building is completed and employees move into the new office space, MVEA will tear down a portion of the original building and add onto it to create a warehouse for vehicle storage, materials and equipment, he said.Hilt said the current expansion should be adequate to meet MVEA needs for the next 10 to 15 years.The expansion also takes advantage of many energy efficient technologies, said Darryl Edwards, member services manager. “The building is designed to make use of sunlight and create a better environment for employees,” he said. Interior lighting is computer controlled at each workstation and measures the amount of natural light and adjusts the fluorescent lights to correspond.Heating and cooling will also be controlled in individual zones and will run off geothermal heat pumps that provide up to 300 percent efficiency. “For every BTU of energy we put into it, we get three out,” Edwards said. The geothermal pumps circulate heat in 80 wells that are 400 feet deep. Energy is conserved because ground temperature varies less than air temperature, he said.MVEA also promotes renewable energy. The new reception area will house information about wind turbines and photovoltaic solar cells in a renewable energy demonstration area. Members will be able to learn about the renewable energy sources and technologies and how they interconnect with MVEA’s system, Edwards said.To meet legislated mandates, MVEA buys 1 percent of their energy from renewable sources. Edwards said that will increase to 10 percent by 2020.Members can also elect to purchase green power through MVEA and their power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. Tri-State has purchase power contracts with renewable resources such as wind farms and small hydro-plants and is developing additional renewable projects, Edwards said.”When a member buys green power, the money goes directly to pay for these contacts and new renewable projects,” he said. “It is a way to purchase renewable energy and promote the technology without the cost of installing your own renewable system on your home or business.”The cost of renewable energy adds 40 cents per 100 kWh block to a regular electric bill.MVEA expects to complete the expansion by August 2009.
