R-News Article - Rochester, NY

Bristol Business Builds Green
by Leah George
photo by Chris Coffey
Published May 02, 2007

An alternative energy supplier in Ontario County believes the future is here.

Eagle Mountain will soon break ground on a sustainable headquarters it says, will serve as an example of how easy it is to go green today.

Doug Mossbrook, Eagle Mountain President and CEO, has been designing, building and installing geothermal heating systems since 1989.

"What we're doing is actually taking heat energy that already exists in the ground and we're using it to now heat a house. So, we're not creating energy we're just moving it," Mossbrook explained.

With better technology, less expensive parts and growing energy costs, the time for his idea may be arriving.

The alternative heating system costs two to three times what conventional furnaces cost.

But Mossbrook says it lasts a lifetime and starts paying for itself after five-years.

"It's sustainable. It doesn't require energy to maintain and all these things add up, and they add up quickly," Mossbrook said.

The new building planned for Mossbrook’s business will be seven times the size of the current on. It will be located across the street on Bristol Valley Road and will be unlike any other in the region.

"We decided it was important to make the building an extension of what we do here, an example of what we’re trying to accomplish," Mossbrook said.

Green roofs, solar power, a man made pond that serves as the primary heat source for the building are all part of the design.

So are earth berms for additional insulation and grass sidewalks and parking lots.

Mossbrook doesn't see the need for concrete or asphalt.

"Basically what we have is a grid that gets put into the soil that allows when you walk on it, your weight is actually hitting the grid and not compressing the grass area and killing the grass," said Mossbrook.

Mossbrook plans to break ground in June.

As futuristic as his business looks and sounds, he says it's all available now, all the public has to do is get used to the idea that it's here.

"We've got to raise awareness. We have technology that exists right now that we've got to start using," Mossbrook said.