http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2012/07/17/news/doc5004da5ccb8ca746639154.txt

By Barbara ReinaFor Hudson-Catskill NewspapersTuesday, July 17, 2012

VALATIE — Design concepts for the future home of theValatie Free Library were counted among an elite selectionof sustainable visions featured at the United Nations’Sustainability Initiative, The Future We Want/Rio+20,summit in Rio de Janeiro last month.

The plan for the new library, along with providing morespace, is aimed at low energy use and sustainability.

Building Designer David Bienn met with a reporter recentlyat the library’s future home, the historic Steam RailroadFreight Barn on Kinderhook Street in Valatie.

As designer, Bienn said that the future library concept is a“near-net zero” energy usage building.

“The planned green building project will align resource usewith ever-green practices, including the installation ofskylights and photovoltaic solar panel technology, with thegoal of attaining net zero energy usage,” Bienn said.

According to Bienn, “the strategies that we are applying tomove the Valatie Free Library into the range of net zeroenergy usage will allow the building to sustain itself and bemore self-sufficient.”

Utilizing solar power technology goes hand-in-hand with netmetering, affording solar panels to soak up energytransformed into power from the sun, sending it into the gridwhich is purchased back from the grid only when needed,according to Bienn. “New York is very progressive in utilizingnet metering,” Bienn said.

Although the new building is being designed to incorporatemodern technology, Bienn said, “I’m very sensitive topreserving the cultural identity, the roots,” of architecture.Bienn said he strives to “preserve and enhance what isalready there.”

The new location, previously the home of the HummingbirdGift Shop, was acquired by the library for $125,000, saidValatie Free Library Board Vice President Randall Schmit. The

building was built in the 1890s on River Street next to therailroad tracks and later relocated to Kinderhook Street inthe 1930s.

Valatie Free Library Board President Erica Balon said, “I amvery excited to give my full support for the Valatie FreeLibrary project.” She added, “David Bienn has spentnumerous hours with various members of the community todevelop a sustainable library plan for a building we can growwith for years to come.”

Co-chairwoman of the library’s “The Library We Want”capital campaign Lori Yarotsky said “the community isoverwhelmingly excited” about the project.

She said that the library serves a population of 4,400,including residents of rural Kinderhook, Kinderhook Lake,Valatie and Niverville. It’s part of the Mid-Hudson LibrarySystem.

Yarotsky said that the present library location on ChurchStreet has 600 square feet of usable space. The new buildingwill offer space three times that of the present library. Thenew site rests on a half-acre of land with a parking lot andhandicapped accessible entrance.

The first annual summer dinner dance gala to benefit thelibrary will be held on August 11 at the Niverville Fire HousePavilion.