The Brookwood Community

“GreenBrook Energy Program”

Brookwood is an innovative, God-centered, 485-acre community located just west of Houston in

Brookshire, Texas. It is gaining national and international attention because the citizens who live

and work there, close to 200 adults with functional disabilities, are making extraordinary

contributions to the world. Each has been taught real job skills and is gainfully employed in

several self-contained enterprises on campus. While these enterprises contribute over $5 mm in

operating revenues annually (underwriting 40% of the missions annual budget), the real benefit

is the sense of accomplishment the citizens derive from being contributing members of society.

This is all accomplished without any government funding.

The campus consists of eight group homes, two single-family staff homes, a residential Inn,

health and dental clinic, Worship Center, enterprise buildings, 47 greenhouses, Gift Retail Shop

and Center, the Café at Brookwood, and several other support buildings.

Defining the problem: Brookwood and Sustainability

Brookwood is funded through tuition ($1,000/month for non-residential “citizens” and

$4,300/month for residential citizens), private sector donations and sales from its entrepreneurial

enterprises. It is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. All of their building, furnishings,

equipment and vehicles are donated. Individuals, foundations, corporations, civic groups,

churches and other groups help support the community’s day-to-day operating needs.

Brookwood requires a great deal of energy and water to create and sell the products they

produce, as well as to cool, heat and provide water to the homes, enterprise buildings,

horticulture operation, retail gift shops, and the Café at Brookwood. Utility costs at Brookwood

are rising as 1) the Community is growing and 2) the costs of energy are trending upwards due to

the large economic growth in Texas. Utility costs are the largest single operating expense at

Brookwood. They currently equate to over $600k annually. Brookwood spends approximately

$464k on electric, $85k on gas and $80k on water each year. While water costs are the lowest of

the utilities, Brookwood is currently paying one of the highest rates in Texas. The City of

Brookshire provides their water and sewage but due to Brookwood’s location (outside the City’s

supply jurisdiction), they have been able to charge higher rates. By way of example, typical

municipal utility district rates, like the Cinco Ranch area, charge $2 to $3 per thousand gallons.

Brookwood is paying nearly $12 per thousand gallons.

Brookwood will be adding new homes, zoning the campus, and enlarging the enterprise

buildings (expanding the business) in the next two years. It is projected that their electric demand

will be over 1.5 Megawatts which, if the costs of power remain the same, will increase their

utility expense to over $700k annually. Water usage and costs undoubtedly will increase. It is

imperative that Brookwood control these costs so that the Community can remain sustainable.

Other issues: Brookwood entered into a 5 year electric contract when gas prices were at an all

time high, and the contract is far above market. Most of the buildings and houses at Brookwood

are old and energy efficiency is poor, leading to higher usage and costs.

Brookwood, as a policy, will not enter into any debt contracts. They did this to acquire their land

in the early 1980s and nearly lost the property due to high interest expense.

Any new programs that are started at Brookwood (other than Board members) cannot utilize its

existing private sector donors. They cannot dilute this important part of their annual budget and

obviously want to increase the number of new donors.

Problem to solve: We would like to completely eliminate Brookwood’s high and growing utility

costs and create a profit center from an historic utility expense center to help Brookwood become

more sustainable.

Borrowing Sources: Creating a multifaceted solution

Industrial, commercial and utility sector power contracts and plants

Large industrials and commercial enterprises often re-negotiate contracts that are out of market.

In addition, when power demand is significant, and an enterprise has the water, land, and

resources, it also will often install their own power generation plants. Most of these are

hydrocarbon-based, like natural gas fired power plants. However, installation of a hydrocarbon

power plant is nearly impossible to do in Houston and surrounding areas due to the ozone air

issues (smog) and the required compliance costs.

Municipal water systems- It is possible to supply and treat water and sewage respectively for

large communities with centralized systems. These systems are not incredibly expensive and can

be maintained at reasonable costs with reasonable maintenance.

Solar Power Plants-Solar PV plants have become a great deal more efficient and costs in the

last 3 years have dropped by over 50%. Manufacturing economies of scale, smarter and shorter

installation processes and more efficient solar panels are the drivers for the decrease in cost. Tax

incentives are also a driver.

Commercial customers like General Motors, Costco, Kohls, Wal-Mart, and Ikea have begun to

install rooftop solar on their large buildings to hold down energy costs and bolster brand images.

Hakan Nordkvist, Ikea’s Head of Sustainable Innovation, said “Our commitment is to go energy

independent by 2020….we have said we will own and produce more renewable energy

production than what we consume as a total group”.

Homeowners are beginning to install roof top solar across the US. Even billboards, street lights,

natural gas and oil wells, and parking meters are utilizing solar PV panels.

Wind Power Plants-Over 60k MW have been installed in the US. Efficiencies have also

increased greatly due to longer and lighter blades and materials. Longer blades have larger wind

swept diameters, which help to produce more power. Higher hub heights produce higher power

output, because greater wind speeds exist at higher elevations and now can be economic in

traditional non-windy areas like Houston. Small communities in California are installing their

own microturbines. In addition, Walmart now purchases wind power under long term agreements

to supply its stores and warehouses in Texas. Industrials along the Gulf Coast are exploring the

installation of their own wind systems to control rising energy costs.

Defective Products - Ross Dress For Less and Marshalls sell defective name brand clothes with

slight blemishes at a large discount to consumers.

Energy Audits- Industrial and commercial enterprises with high utility costs will often conduct

third party energy audits to identify areas in which they can improve their efficiencies.

Horse Stables – requires good flat land with good highway access.

Organic Farming- Several similar communities, like Cooper Riis Healing Farm Community

(www.cooperriis.org) have used organic farming as a project to not only help the residents have

a sense of purpose, responsibility, and accomplishment, but also to help supply fresh, healthy

food for the community.

Oil and gas industry- Oil and gas drilling is a century plus old business that can be very

lucrative for a large landowner in an oil and gas rich area.

Fund Raising Process- Brookwood does a great job in this field. They have a development

group and an Advisory Board that work together in conducting fund raising events. The main

fund raisers are the annual golf tournament, Evening in the Garden, and the bi-annual upscale

luncheon Gala. They create Host Committees with Chairs to help raise awareness through

friends, families and organizations to help organize the events and funds. Brookwood also uses

multiple mail outs, invites, and save the date concepts.

Social Media – Utilizing Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and a defined website could create

awareness on a large scale. Currently, Brookwood has a Facebook page

(https://www.facebook.com/BrookwoodCommunity) that is active and has multiple posts per

week. The page currently has over 2,000 likes, but we believe this is just scratching the surface

of what is possible

Crowdfunding- Using a Crowdfunding site like fundly.com could also help raise funds for

Brookwood projects. We would recommend using programs like this to raise a stated amount of

funds for a specific project. This way, all donors could be updated with the progress of the

project and be notified and thanked when the goal is reached. Program expenses for fundraising

events could be raised in this manner. Our class showed how viable this technique is by raising

over $1,500 in funds for the Houston Food Bank.

Combining: Creating The GreenBrook Energy Program

In summary, this will include: Re-negotiating the commercial power contract (like

industrial/commercial customers), conducting an energy audit of the campus (like

industrial/commercial customers), installing solar PV panels and wind turbine(s) (like utilities,

Wal-Mart, Ikea etc), utilizing organic farming to enhance revenue and partially fund projects

(like Cooper Riis Healing Farm Community), creating awareness through Social Media such as

a new website, LinkedIn (with solar, wind and water company contacts), Facebook, Instagram,

and utilize fundraising events for new Brookwood donors to help create awareness and fund the

GreenBrook projects (like the Brookwood Charity events).

Contract Re-negotiation

We will re-negotiate the power contract with the current electric provider by either extending the

contract out, buying out the contract for $80k by raising funds, or starting over. We will invite

the executives to tour Brookwood to help them understand Brookwood and their needs.

Energy Efficiency

We will conduct an energy audit of the complex and determine the areas that will be best suited

to control costs and make Brookwood more efficient.

Green Resources

We cannot use hydrocarbon power plants to help power Brookwood due to the Houston and

surrounding area ozone issue (smog) and fuel price fluctuation. However, we will utilize Green

Resources to help Brookwood’s sustainability and the environment. Green Resources such as

wind, water and solar do not deplete like other forms of energy generation and by definition is

sustainable.

And by using Green Resources, we protect our environment and improve our health and our

community. Applying Green Resource technologies and energy efficiency controls at the

Brookwood Community will help:

Lower energy and water costs to the Community Lower Citizen product costs to the market thereby increasing margins Create a profit center from a traditional utility expense center Help promote a sustainable environment for the Community Accentuate the learning environment within and outside the Community

We will install wind and solar power facilities by 2018 in such quantities that exceed the 1.5

MW demand at Brookwood and we will sell the excess power supply to the market thereby

creating a profit center from an historic utility expense center. We will also install potable

groundwater wells to significantly lower Brookwood’s water expense.

We call this The GreenBrook Energy Program – see map below.

Wind, Water and Solar Technology at Brookwood

Large Turbine(s) – first install a met tower on property to measure wind speed and

direction and later install one 2 to 3 MW turbine on the acreage.

The 500 to 625 ft turbine will be located on the back acreage and will be positioned so

that it can be readily seen from I-10. On both sides of the Nacelle (top of turbine) we will

carry the Brookwood name. This will serve as our GreenBrook beacon, will enhance

public curiosity and help create more awareness of our program. Tours will be given

from the retail gift shop.

Install upwind micro-turbines in areas near the homes or buildings.

Utilize water and waste water treatment plant and or re-negotiate current contract

Install roof top solar on high irradiance areas on houses and buildings on campus.

Install a ground mount Solar Plant of up to 1 MW

Install PV lighting, PV water heater at the Café and PV pumps for the groundwater wells

Soal(ar) Train – once the above Green Resources are in operation, we will install an

automated solar powered train (similar to the Kemah Boardwalk train but powered by

solar) that will provide a tour of the GreenBrook Energy program. Ride tickets will be

purchased in the retail gift shop.

Fund raising and Awareness – to complete this program it is estimated we will need to raise

the equivalent of up to $8 mm through fundraising events and technology and service donations,

utility and manufacturing alliances, organic farming, oil and gas drilling, social media, and

crowdfunding.

Horseshow Gala and Host Committee Make-Up – We will find a generous equestrian

center owner and host an upscale Gala Event to help raise awareness and funds. We will

copy the largely successful Pin Oak Horse Show – an ongoing 60 year Texas Children

Fundraising event. We will create a Host Committee made up of people in the wind,

solar and water industries. These individuals will not be current major contributors to

Brookwood. We will have these individuals help us develop a diverse network of

potentially interested parties who would contribute through a donation or table purchase.

We will copy the same fundraising process that Brookwood has used successfully for its

main $1+ mm charity events and build this program to that level in 3 years.

Utilization of defective products- such as out of spec solar panels. We will canvas the

industry, explain our program and needs and ask for panel donations.

Manufacturer Alliance - We will offer Brookwood up as a “test site” for new solar or

wind product demonstrations whereby the produced power will be for the benefit of

Brookwood’s GreenBrook Program. Relationships will be created through our

fundraising events, social media and personal business contacts.

Utility Alliance – We will need to establish a retail electric provider partner--One that

will help manage our power production and demand. And one that also might be a

technology development partner. Like a NRG-Reliant-Green Mountain retail

provider/developer

Brookwood has 485 acres of land and utilitizes less than 1/3 of the property.The

land is locted less than 1 mile from I-10. Given the right circumstances it is

conceivable that a horse stable such as Brightstar Stables would be willing to

relocate its business and lease land from Brookwood. Horses are very therapeutic

to special needs children and adults. Partnering with a horse stable could very

much be a win win situation. The land lease funds could be used to help fund

GreenBrook Energy.

Organic Farming – Brookwood already has a major horticulture operation, with 47

greenhouses and over 500,000 plants grown each year by the citizens. These plants are

sold through a showroom on site to the general public and also through wholesale

customers. The citizens currently plant 25,000 to 30,000 plants per week. A major seller

are the 37,000 poinsettias grown yearly at Brookwood. During the holiday season, a

retail store is utilized in the Houston Galleria to sell Brookwood’s poinsettas and other

products made by the citizens. With such a successful horticulture component, we would

not want to reassign any of the current greenhouses for organic farming, but would

instead add new greenhouses to the expansive 475 acres that Brookwood sits on.

While Texas does not have the fertile soil of North Carolina that Cooper Riis and other

organic farming communities do, there are several crops that can be grown successfully

in the Brookshire area. Possible crops include peaches, nectarines, blackberries, broccoli,

carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, herbs/spices, peppers, tomatoes, and squash. There are

currently a number of organic farms in Waller County, proving that these crops and

organic farming in the area is viable. Several of these farms offer “pick and purchase”

for residents to come pick their own fruit or vegetables. This could be explored further

down the road. While Brookwood could sell portions of their harvest, the majority of the

fruits and vegetables grown would be used for meals both for the citizens and for the

Café at Brookwood. This could drastically cut back on food costs for the community and

upscale Café. We will conduct a feasibility study by first reviewing successful operations

in the area or abroad to help establish the best crops to produce at Brookwood. Start with

a pilot and scale accordingly.

Oil and gas wells- It is conceivable that oil and or gas exists on the Brookwood 485 acre

tract. Active oil and gas wells are located within just a few miles of the property. And

Brookwood owns 90% of its mineral rights. We will endeavor to find an oil and gas

partner who will conduct a feasibility study of the underlying geology and potential for

Brookwood. The funds from the success of this activity both optioning land and drilling

will help provide support of GreenBrook Energy.

Social media – we will create the RenewableEnergyFriends.com website and Facebook

account, and will establish over 5500 connections on LinkedIn with people in the Green

Resource Energy arena. We will utilize this network to announce the GreenBrook

Energy program, fundraising events and help create awareness. In addition, there needs

to be an easy way to donate online from an associated Facebook page. Currently, there

are direct links to sign up for Brookwood events and make Café reservations, but we feel

a donation “button” could be effective if it let to our fundly crowdsourcing page for

donations. Since Facebook is still mostly utilized by younger users, it is imperative that

there is a Facebook page or group that reaches out to the young adult crowd. There is

currently a page for “Brookwood Young Professionals”

(https://www.facebook.com/BrookwoodYoungProfessionals), but the page only has 40

likes, does not have a list of current members, and the most recent post was in April.

While the young professionals are not going to be your top donors, their involvement in

an organization like Brookwood is pivotal. This is the group that will volunteer on the

weekends, get their friends/family involved, plan and attend fund-raising social events for

people their age, and (most importantly) get their parents involved. This is one area has

that has huge potential for improvement. An Instagram account with daily pictures of the

citizens and special events would also help greatly to increase awareness and bring on

potential donors at zero cost for the community. Instagram is quickly becoming a major

player in the social media field, with 150 million current users

(http://blog.instagram.com/post/60694542173/150-million).

Crowdfunding- Using a crowdfunding site like fundly.com or Crowdfunder could also

help raise funds for Brookwood projects. We would recommend using programs like this

to raise a stated amount of funds for a specific project, like covering upfront expenses of

a fundraising event. This way, all donors could be updated with the progress of the

project and be notified and thanked when the goal is reached. While there is value in

having a general fund page that is always open for Brookwood or Greenbrook gifts, we

feel that a more targeted and drilled down approach could be very effective. Care must be

taken to not exhaust our list of donors or their willingness to donate on any one project.

Our MBA class showed how viable this technique is, albeit on a smaller scale, by raising

over $2,000 in funds for the Houston Food Bank through limited efforts for two weeks.

Incubation – All of this started with an “aha” tour of Brookwood with a stop at the onsite Chapel.

That day RenewableEnergyFriends began and the GreenBrook Energy plan began to incubate. It

didn’t happen holistically but rather by small successes and God’s path. The bigger picture took

form only a year ago after incubation which is the problem defined. See below.

Judging the GreenBrook Energy Solution

Problem: Creating a profit center from a utility expense center to make Brookwood more

sustainable.

Is this realistic? It’s a $900,000 ($700,000 expense to $200,000 profit) per year swing. That’s a

great deal of money and effort to complete. How can this be accomplished with very limited

resources? We believe it can. We will establish an initial fundraiser through family and friends.

Basically, taking baby steps. We use this money to conduct small projects that will have a big

impact and begin to create awareness Picking the “low hanging fruit”, so to speak. We then

leverage our contacts in the renewable industry and reach out to their network and create

awareness. We hold upscale fundraising events to enlarge the network and explain the mission.

We utilize all social media means possible to advertise our mission and show our progress and

the real meaning of our success.

Large Wind Turbines – This could be an issue. It takes operational and maintenance skill sets

that Brookwood doesn’t have and power scheduling and balancing. We believe one answer is to

use Brookwood as a test facility whereby the owner/operator can utilize the tax credit, operate

and maintain the turbine and pay Brookwood a lease fee. Also, through a utility alliance they

would provide the energy management for Brookwood and the owner/operator.

Small Hybrid Wind Solar Turbines – Really too expensive and not enough bang for the buck.

Wind at nearly ground level is not great and the houses and buildings may block the wind path.

Rethink this and possibly redeploy into solar.

Solar – Although solar panels have dropped in price, rooftop solar can still be expensive. We

may be able to by-pass the rooftops and install ground mount systems around most of the

buildings. On the positive side, operating solar is a very minimal effort. Solar is by far the

technology of choice, as it requires very little maintenance, installation is fairly simple, costs are

headed downward, and Brookwood has a great deal of property for solar installation.

Water plant – Like wind, water plants requires operation and maintenance. Hiring this skill set

may dilute the benefit of buy vs. make. We believe there maybe an elegant solution of utilizing

existing groundwater agricultural wells and installation of new wells to substantially reduce

costs. We are hiring a water consulting company to complete a feasibility study. We believe this

could save Brookwood $52k annually with only a $100k investment.

Fundraising – This is no easy task and will take a good deal of time. Who can help? First

family, friends and colleagues. We then need to establish our network of renewable industry

professionals and get them involved in a committee. We need to establish the perfect venue and

work with a charitable owner. We need to create a very upscale event to make this an ongoing

longterm fundraiser to help fund the projects and create awareness and demand for years to

come. The first year, we would like to raise over $200k and by the third year $1mm. All this can

be done but it will take focus, effort and drive.

Organic Farming- This would represent a new but similar enterprise for Brookwood. It would

require new KM but could be an effective product for the café and citizens. And a longer term

financial gain by scaling up to help fund GreenBrook Energy. It also goes along with our clean

health message and sustainability.

Enhancing The Problem and Solution- lets discuss where we are at currently. The tables below

show the programs that have been implemented or soon will be. From the results (savings) one

can see where bigger gains can be made using less capital in a few areas, and this needs to be

enhanced. The problem when we started was not clearly defined. We just wanted to help with

their costs but as time went by and incubation of the problem occurred, the problem became very

clear.

By judging the results, one of the best things we did early on was re-negotiate the existing out-

of-market contract for Brookwood. We examined the contract and found we could buy out of it

for $80k. The savings would more than pay for itself in one year.

However, before we embarked on that path, we contacted the utility provider and had their

executives take a tour of the facility. They were smitten. The very next day they agreed to re-do

the contract at market rates which saved Brookwood $125 k per year. We are going to try this

again because the current provider bought the existing contract, and it is the most economic

option if we are successful—no dollars out of pocket. However, this is where we will find our

utility management partner or alliance discussed earlier. We want this company to be our long

term partner as we implement the installation of the green technologies to manage and balance

the power. We will use their electric demand and a potential contract as partner-alliance

leverage.

We then raised money to conduct an energy audit, install a hybrid wind and solar turbine, install

a met tower (used for measuring wind speed and direction) and create the

RenewableEnergyFriends.Com website. This small group of donors was primarily made up of

friends, family and colleagues.

The energy audit was a big success. It uncovered a couple of really important issues. First, we

found that by just changing out light bulbs we could save Brookwood over $40k per year. So, we

raised the money through corporate foundations and completed the program last year. Secondly,

we discovered their water costs were the highest in Texas. This is where we decided to either put

in a water plant, re-negotiate the contract or do a little of both. We have hired AECOM to

conduct a water feasibility study which should be complete this year. We then plan to implement

the water plan in 2014. The total capital cost is now believed to be less than $100k, saving

Brookwood over $52k per year and over $1mm in capital.

We now believe additional micro-turbines should not be deployed due to cost vs. return and wind

issues. However the one that is installed really makes a nice “buildboard” for our program when

Brookwood conducts tours. The hybrid micro-turbine literally sits in the middle of the tour area

and provides power to one of the community homes.

From the time we started our program, the cost of solar has dropped by over 50%. The more

elegant solution appears to be less rooftop but more ground mount systems because install costs

are less and Brookwood has a great deal of land. It all really needs to be optimized. Some areas

just may not be conducive to a ground mount system due to shading. We now believe PV solar

to be the real solution for Brookwood and most of our capital should be spent on this technology.

Regarding big wind turbines, we will need to find a manufacturing partner who is willing to use

Brookwood as a test site and pay a lease fee and provide power—thus no capital needed. That

would eliminate an additional $4mm from the program.

Surrounding Brookwood, there are literally thousands of farm and ranch properties that could be

utilized for a larger wind farm, thus making the test site scalable for possible large wind farm just

outside Houston. As we said earlier, the Houston area ozone (smog) problem is a real issue and

hydrocarbon power plants cannot be economically constructed. The more elegant solution to this

problem is to install tall turbines to supply clean emission-free energy to the Houston high power

demand market. Of course, this all started from defining and solving the Brookwood problem.

The result is great for Brookwood and great for Houston. See the new enhanced GreenBrook

Energy Program.

Upcoming Fundraiser

Autumn Classic Horseshow Gala, Katy, Texas – The Great Southwest Equestrian Center has

donated this special event to Brookwood and the GreenBrook Energy program to be held

November 9th 2013. We formed a host committee made up mostly of energy professionals. All of

whom reached out to their network of friends, family and colleagues. We pre-sold tables and

then sent invitations out to over 600 people. Bright Star Stables has donated a life size artificial

horse that is being decorated by the Citizens. The horse is named “Brooks” and will be auctioned

off at the Gala.

To date, we have raised $200k from selling tables for the horseshow. This is enough to pay for

our water plant and some rooftop solar panels in 2014. This is the first annual and we no doubt

will enhance the program to make it an annual million dollar producer enabling us to complete

the GreenBrook Energy program.