5 Things You May Not Know About Farmington Hills City Hall

You probably know Farmington Hills city hall's 2010 renovationadded a number of environmentally friendly features, like geoexchange heating and cooling, a living roof and energy-efficient lighting. 

But you may not know the impact of all those features. Here's a short list from city management assistant Nate Geinzer:

• Since 2011, City Hall has produced enough energy from its solar panels to power four homes for a year, or dry nearly 15,000 loads of laundry.
• A GeoExchange System uses the ground's constant 50-55 degree temperature, via 40, 285-foot deep wells under the parking lot, to provide heating and cooling.
• Energy usage has decreased by over 50 percent per square foot.
• Translucent wall panels provide access to natural daylight, while keeping heat out during the summer and heat in during the winter.
• The municipal parking lot's LED lights use 50 percent less energy and are estimated to last up to 80,000 hours (four to six times longer than the old lights).