Written by Juanita Fox, director of media experiences and storytelling
At Garden Spot Village, peace of mind is built into the infrastructure.
Behind the scenes on campus, a combined heat and power system — often called CHP — quietly produces electricity, captures heat that would otherwise be wasted and helps keep the community running through severe weather and everyday demand.
An Idea Years in the Making
According to Chief Operating Officer Steve Muller, the idea for the system began about 15 years ago, long before it was built. The question was practical and important: How do we ensure residents have reliable power, regardless of the weather or the regional grid?
The answer was to create a small power network right on campus — one designed to support daily operations and provide added resilience when outside conditions become unpredictable.
How It Works — In Plain English
At the heart of the system is a large natural gas engine, similar in concept to a truck engine, with its own emissions controls. The engine drives a generator that produces power for the community — about 1,141 kW combined between the engine and generator, or roughly the equivalent of 1,500 horsepower at work.
The innovation is in what happens next. Like any engine, the system generates heat while producing electricity. Instead of releasing that heat into the air, Garden Spot Village captures it and puts it to work. In colder months, the recovered heat helps warm the campus. In warmer months, an absorption chiller uses the same hot water to produce cold water for cooling. The result is a system that provides electricity, heat and cooling with very little wasted energy.
Your Own Power, Right on Campus
Garden Spot Village remains connected to the regional utility, but the community is not fully dependent on it. The CHP system functions as a microgrid—an on-site power source that supports everyday operations rather than simply waiting to turn on during an outage.
That matters because power generated close to where it is used is more efficient. Traditional utility power often travels long distances from a power plant, losing energy along the way through transmission and distribution. By producing power on campus, Garden Spot Village reduces that loss and gains greater control over reliability.
Built for the Long Haul
Investments like this are often found in places designed to serve people for generations — hospitals, schools, universities and senior living communities. The return is not only financial, although the system is expected to pay for itself over time. The larger value is in resilience, efficiency and environmental responsibility. Every day the system operates, it helps reduce energy waste and lowers the community’s overall environmental impact.
A Talking Point Residents Appreciate
One unexpected benefit is how the system has sparked conversation among residents. Many people who live at Garden Spot Village spent their careers in engineering, utilities, manufacturing or related fields. For them, the CHP system is more than a piece of equipment tucked away behind the scenes — it is something they understand, appreciate and enjoy talking about.
In that way, the system has become something residents notice and value. It keeps the lights on, uses energy wisely and reflects the kind of long-term thinking that helps residents feel confident about the future.
For Garden Spot Village, the CHP system is not just about power. It is about preparedness, stewardship and the peace of mind that comes from knowing essential systems are designed with residents in mind.
Juanita Fox, director of media experiences and storytelling for Garden Spot Communities, brings a wealth of marketing and storytelling experience. She is the managing editor for Destination Magazine as well as the co-host for Garden Spot’s Purpose in Retirement Podcast.