Sustainability in the Senior Center

     Senior centers are great places for retirees to mingle and to recreate. There are some senior centers that have taken measures to become eco-friendly as well. The Susi Q Senior Center in California is one such example. The 8,200 square-foot Susi Q Senior Center and 8,000 square-foot Community Center come together in a u-shaped design that parallels the spectacular Pacific coast in the Laguna area. The center maintains the eclectic array and intimate scale of buildings found throughout the village, with a cleverly infused residential character that compliments the area. It also maintains green practices and services offered. It makes use of heat island reduction through a cool roof and covered parking. The building employs the use of building materials with high recycled content. The recycling of 75 percent of the construction waste was implemented as well. Natural daylight through skylights and solar tubes brightens up the center overall. Operable aluminum-clad wood windows help to save energy. Water is used through drip irrigaiton and water efficient fixtures.

     It is possible to have centers like this in your area as well. The senior center idea should be combined with the idea of building a sustainable structure that should last as long as possible and be a place to try energy saving ideas. The building should be built in a square format and should be well insulated to reduce heat leakage. Sewage facilities for the building should be self contained, and should include water recycling, and fertilizer from sewage. The heating system should include cogeneration, use of waste fuels, and solar energy. There should be ways to tap into solar power and wind power. In order to have the space to do these things the project should be on an acre or more of land. Gardens and plant experimentation should be an important part of the project.

     A cooperative made up of seniors should be formed to nurture, plan, finance, and advertise this project. More owner participation will help to bring costs down and the resultant cooperative management can do a better job of administering the building. A lot of senior facilities that are administered by private companies are so high in cost that many seniors elect to live in ordinary apartments. Surely, some of these costs could be reduced while improving services, if the administration and planning were done by the seniors themselves. Another tactic would be to buy an existing building and set it up for seniors. Cooperatives that act partly as extended families could solve many problems for seniors.