Maple Knoll Village Focuses on Going Green

Maple Knoll Village, a continuing care retirement community located in Cincinnati, knows the importance of going green and intertwines green living in everyday actions and plans. Maple Knoll’s journey towards becoming a greener and more sustainable community started from the top with a commitment from Administration.  In December of 2020, Maple Knoll’s newest construction, a senior residential neighborhood, was named a Leader in Energy and Environmental Design for Homes awardee with Platinum status, the highest LEED level of certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. 

This status was achieved in partnership with HCG Construction, Luminat, and Sol Design & Consulting.  There is a lack of green homes in the market and we wanted to be one of the first to create a retirement living option with a priority placed on reducing our carbon footprint from the beginning of construction. Key design features of these LEED Platinum certified homes include: storm water capture and water efficient irrigation systems, energy star roof shingles and appliances, high efficiency gas furnaces, tank less gas water heaters, high performance E windows and doors, LED lighting fixtures, air tight building envelope with performance testing and continuous insulation, use of recycled and locally sourced building materials and roughed-in electric in each garage for optional electric car charger stations.

Following the lead of Maple Knoll management, an Arboretum Committee at Maple Knoll Village was created when a group of residents saw the beauty of our 54-acre campus filled with many species of trees and lush greenery and wanted to create an enhanced awareness of trees and plant life for everyone on our campus. To ensure that people can enjoy and utilize the benefits trees provide, the arboretum committees’ priorities are to protect existing trees, increase the selection and diversity of species, and improve planning, standards, and care for trees.

The Arboretum at Maple Knoll Village was founded recognizing the value and importance of this natural environment for residents’ health and wellbeing.  Becoming a more sustainable community has always been a high priority for Maple Knoll Village as they are continuously planning for the future. Since the founding of the Maple Knoll Village Arboretum, there has been an increased interest campus wide on improving Maple Knoll Village’s efforts to go green. This motivated residents to launch a new sustainability committee.

While the committee is still very new, residents have already been hard at work brainstorming innovative ways our campus can reduce our carbon footprint and teach residents how they can live more sustainable lives. Resident efforts include the recent creation of a shared vegetable and herb garden planted and maintained by the MKV Community Garden Club. All produce that is grown from this garden is available to residents providing a fun and social way for residents to get involved in gardening.  Committee members are devoted to educating their neighbors on how their use of electricity, water, and gas affects the environment and utilities at Maple Knoll in monthly resident newsletters and publications.

The Sustainability Committee also recently worked with local St. Xavier High School students this past year to conduct a carbon footprint study of Maple Knoll. Committee members attend the St. Xavier High School engineering student presentations. The committee was thoroughly impressed with how informed and educated the high school students were in their study and recommendations and plan to implement many of their ideas in addition to continuing this partnership well into the future.  Involving the community in sustainability efforts is very important in planning for the Architectural Design Professor from the University of Cincinnati DAAP School to present on the concept of green roofs to the Sustainability Committee is already underway. Future goals of the committee include securing funding from resident and public gifts as well as environmental grants, identifying clear short term and long term goals, and research electronic alternatives for the Maple Knoll Village company fleet vehicles.

Maple Knoll Village continues to evaluate our efforts towards creating a more sustainable community and has committed to ensuring that all future construction additions will highlight green efforts.  For additional information on ways Maple Knoll Village is going green please call 513-782-2423.