SIDNEY – Sidney Federal Credit Union's (SFCU) corporate headquarters in Sidney, N.Y. uses green technology to lessen its impact on the community and to save money for its members.

In 2010, SFCU realized that it needed to expand its corporate headquarters on Union St. in Sidney. And they did so. But incorporated into the design of their new building, engineers and architects added a variety of “green” additions to the plans. These additions allowed SFCU to build a 35,000 square foot building in place of their old 11,000 square foot building and pay a fraction of what they used to in utilities.

Kevin O'Hara, Facilities Manager for all nine branches of SFCU, attests that this savings is due fully to the eradication of fossil fuel usage in the new building. “Our electric usage went up, but now we're using zero oil,” said O'Hara, “there are no fossil fuels used in the building except for the backup generator.”

The backup generator was incorporated into the system to protect against a complete, prolonged loss of power to the building. O'Hara said, “the building was designed to keep the drive-up and ATM open for an extended period of time in the case of a complete power outage.”