May 6, 2009 5:37 pm US/Central
Man's Green Dream Brings Wind Turbine To Suburbs
SCHILLER PARK, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Brian Great is building a wind turbine in the parking lot of his Schiller Park restaurant.
CBS
It's not surprising to see wind turbines on a farm. But now, one is going up in a suburban neighborhood behind a popular restaurant.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, its construction is Brian Great's green dream come true.
For the past 14 months, Great has been working on blueprints and waiting for approval.
"We got to go through the FAA, then the zoning and public hearings then the village board had to vote on it," Great said.
Great owns the Great Escape restaurant in Schiller Park. And right there, on a spot in the parking lot Great will take green to new heights. The turbine will sit on a spot in his parking lot. The tower will stand 80 feet tall, complete with three 62-foot blades.
Great is spending $315,000 of his own money. But Great believes it's worth it.
The turbine will provide Great's business with more than 100 percent of the electric power needed for operation. He'll have to pay about $200 each month for his Com Ed line charges – a big difference from his usual monthly bill of about $2,800.
"It's gonna provide power for the air conditioners, for the cooking equipment, all the refrigeration, to keep the beer cold, so come in and have a beer and it was chilled by the wind," Great said.
At night, the power demand for the restaurant will be low and 20 to 30 nearby homes will benefit from the excess clean energy created by the turbine.
"The coal burning energies and the fuel fossils that we use, is not helping us in anyway," said Schiller Park resident Kelly Tabor. "The more we can do, the better off we'll all be."
Great says part of his inspiration for the green effort was President Barack Obama. He hopes the president will visit the restaurant when the wind turbine is complete, in late June or early July.
The WINDPOWER 2009 conference and exhibition, is taking place in Chicago right now.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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