Sustainability Cottage

Kleinheksel Cottage

This 1892-built home was retrofitted with upgrades thanks to the generous support of the Anne DeBoer Deckard Sustainability Fund and serves as our first low/zero-carbon student cottage.

The goal of this project was to display how residential sustainability features can make the homes more comfortable to live in, reduce environmental impacts and save money. With this initial project, a second goal was both to inspire additional cottages at Hope College to be retrofitted and to encourage surrounding Holland area residents to do the same.

A generous donation was given by Hope College Alumni Anne Deckard ’73 Hiskes and Richard Hiskes ’73 to promote undergraduate research and sustainability.

Kleinheksel Cottage

This cottage is named in honor of John H. Kleinheksel who was a professor of mathematics from 1878 to 1916. It was chosen for this project by summer research students with guidance from Dr. Christians as well as help from the Physical Plant and the Green Team.

• Selected for its low efficiencies and need of upgrade.
• South side roof has good exposure for solar panels.
• Seven-person home, two stories with an attic and basement.
• Two full bathrooms and five bedrooms.
• Two 40-gallon tanked gas water heaters.
• 90% efficiency gas furnace.
• No wall cavity insulation and 30.6 R value in attic.
• Built in 1892.

Phase 1 Research Summer 2022 

During the summer of 2022, two Summer Hope Academic Research Program (SHARP) students worked with Dr. Jeffrey Christians, Dr. Steven McMullen, the Hope College Physical Plant and the Campus Green Team to better understand our electricity and gas usage on campus, and they also helped to identify a cottage to retrofit. They selected Kleinheksel Cottage as an appropriate option to incorporate this work. By introducing sustainability to the outdated 1892-built home, especially in the challenging Michigan weather climate, a new initiative can begin to study these types of features and then hope to convert other on-campus homes and also demonstrate these types of technologies for Holland area homeowners.

Phase 2 Research Fall 2022 and Spring 2023

During the 2022–2023 academic year, four engineering senior design students continued the work to identify the types of projects that would best meet the sustainability goals with the help of Dr. Roger Veldman and Dr. Jeffrey Christians. Through assistance from the Hope College Physical Plant and the Green Team, as well as an in-depth home energy audit from the Holland Board of Public Works, areas needing the most improvement were clearly defined. Without any specific design requirements, these sources allowed for the procurement of an initial project scope. The fall 2022 semester’s goal was defined to focus on improving the insulation, HVAC, and water heater, with hopes of reducing natural gas usage as well as adding solar to the cottage. A multitude of concepts was considered before coming to a final design at the end of the spring 2023 semester. 

Phase 3 Installation Summer 2023

The Physical Plant Team under the direction of Nick Duthler ’09 sourced and secured the materials needed and the upgrades were installed during the summer of 2023. Students began moving into the cottage in August 2023 and received information about the sustainability features of the cottage. Upgrades included:

• Two 50-gallon hybrid water heaters
• Replacement of the south side roof for solar panel installation
• Solar panels and microinverters (approximately 6 kW system with 90% offset consumption)
• Insulation in the attic, walls and the basement rim joist
• Upgrades to the HVAC with a dual heating and cooling system heat pump
• System to monitor the efficiency of the equipment

Phase 4 Monitoring 

Students in the Green Revolving Fund internship will continue to monitor the cottage and the efficiency of the projects and make recommendations for future improvements at this and other campus-owned cottages.

Year 1 Monitoring

• Solar array produced 5,326 kWh
• Natural gas usage reduced by 88% from 1,595 therms to 184 therms
• Energy usage: Reduced by 58% from 54,678 kWh down to 23,190 kWh thanks to efficiency upgrades. Solar array produced 5326 kWh. Total utility energy usage =  17,864 kWh or 67% reduction from utility energy needed to operate the cottage.
• Total utility costs have decreased by about $1,000/year
• The new system has also resulted in a direct CO2 emissions savings of 7 tons this first year

Acknowledgements

• Hiskes Family – Generous donation to fund project
• Dr. Christians, Dr. McMullen, Dr. Veldman and Dr. Misovich
• Physical Plant Team
• Campus Green Team representatives Nick Duthler, Kara Slater, Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger and Michelle Seppala Gibbs
• Holland Board of Public Works
• Outside companies and contractors

About the Hiskes
Richard (Rich) Hiskes ’73 and Anne Deckard ’73 Hiskes believe the best way to address poverty, racism, human rights and other social justice issues is to focus on the environment, and they are starting at Hope College.

“None of it matters if we don’t have a world to live in,” said Anne, who has been an environmentalist her whole life following in the footsteps of her mother, Anne Deboer Deckard.  

“I’m very disturbed by climate change. It’s going faster than scientists thought. Our environment is collapsing and we all have to do something,” added Rich, who has a Ph.D. in political science and helped to establish the Human Rights Institute at University of Connecticut where he worked as a professor for 35 years.  

That’s why the Hiskeses have made a significant financial investment in sustainability efforts at Hope. Due to their generosity, Hope is opening its first low- or zero-emission demonstration house where students will live this fall.

They provided the funding to support a student-led group to design, plan, budget and collaborate with Hope’s Physical Plant to retro-fit the cottage with a heat pump furnace, heat pump hot water heaters, solar panels and additional insulation. 

“Hope College is a leader in the community,” said Anne, who has a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science and worked as a professor of philosophy and associate dean at University of Connecticut for many years where she started the Science and Human Rights Program. She finished her career at Grand Valley State University where she retired as dean of the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies. “I hope this cottage inspires others to do the same. What we teach students has a ripple effect as they graduate and pursue their careers. We want to support Hope in becoming a leader in sustainability and creation care.”

The Hiskeses established the Anne Deboer Deckard Fund to support the cottage renovation and with a gift from Anne Deckard’s estate after her passing. “When we receive gifts, they are meant to be shared,” said Anne.

The fund also supports two other sustainability projects: the enhancement of an environmental studies curriculum and a campus electric mobility station for recharging cars and bicycles. Eventually, the Hiskeses would like Hope to offer an environmental studies major. 

Anne Deckard, who was a professor of chemistry at Grand Rapids Community College, had deep relationships with Hope chemistry professors through their involvement with the American Scientific Affiliation, an organization dedicated to exploring the connections between faith and science. Deckard also worked briefly as an adjunct professor on campus.

“Growing up with a chemist mother is very influential,” said Anne, who was a math, physics and philosophy major at Hope. “I was well aware early on how chemicals affect our daily lives. My mother’s passion for environmentalism became my passion.”

The Hiskes, who met at Hope and married at Marigold Lodge, applaud Hope’s commitment to sustainability. “It seems like Hope was so far down the road. They just needed someone to come in and infuse money into their efforts,” Rich said. “Seeing the cottage renovations is wonderfully rewarding to us.”