The Masonic Village at Burlington, a senior living community in Burlington, NJ, recently completed an $8.9 million “green” makeover of its 120-year-old facility. The Masonic Charity Foundation of New Jersey celebrated on April 22 — Earth Day — with energy management firm ENER-G Rudox.
Masonic Village, which received a $996,000 grant from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to execute the project, is now “one of the most sustainable, energy-efficient and resilient senior living communities in the country,” said Ben Parvey, CEO of clean energy infrastructure developer Blue Sky Power, also involved in the project. The community will experience carbon and cost savings at no capital expense.
ENER-G Rudox, Blue Sky Power and energy and infrastructure development and consulting firm MCFA Global developed, designed, engineered, constructed and financed a campus-wide microgrid for the community.
“The total package will provide economic benefits, as well as redundancy and sustainability, for Masonic Village and allow the facility to reduce its carbon footprint by approximately 452 metric tons per year, the equivalent benefit of negating more than one million miles driven by the average car,” said Ryan Goodman, president of ENER-G Rudox.
Energy infrastructure improvements to the 450-acre campus included the installation of a 498-kilowatt natural gas system that provides both heat and electricity for the facility. Additionally, the lighting system and boiler plant were upgraded to reduce the facility’s energy use.
“Assisted living and senior care facilities are often excellent candidates for distributed generation technologies due to their operating profiles and infrastructure requirements,” Goodman said. “In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, we’ve seen an increased interest in improving resiliency in these facilities. However, many facility managers are unaware of the fact that they can improve resiliency while simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint and saving money. The Masonic Village of Burlington, NJ, project illustrates this capability, and thus enables the facility to remain on the cutting edge of its industry.”
