Brock Environmental Center Tour 1-26-16

Warm temperatures, an interest in the somewhat newly constructed Brock Center and the promise of an interesting hike at Pleasure House Point and the Chesapeake Bay brought 41 participants out for the February 27, 2016 Tuesday Group event. Brock Center guide, Ellen Deppe, gave a very informative tour of the fascinating Brock center, letting us know that the grounds and porch are open to the public anytime for enjoying the views, having a picnic and walking about. The Brock Center itself is only open for special events and previously organized tours.

What a contrast to the last Tuesday hike. This time the weather reached the upper fifties resulting in a beautiful morning to hike. Our first westward leg was on the Beach Trail at the Brock Center. The views over the Lynnhaven River were splendid. We had to make a small detour around a flooded section of trail but we persevered onward to Taste Unlimited for lunch, gelato and adult beverages. After our fuel-up, we headed to the Chesapeake Bay employing a system of backyard neighborhood trails that were a lot of fun to walk, in addition to getting us off the road. With little wind and a low tide the beach trekking was easy going. Our attention was drawn to the construction site of the new Lesner Bridge. Unknowingly we walked a few hundred feet beyond a partially buried No Trespassing sign and thus were able to get very close views of the half-finished bridge. Too close!! A worker came over and politely informed us that we were too close. So beating a hasty retreat, we finished our loop back to the Brock Center. It was a nice day for a winter hike and we finished with over six miles on our boots.

Gayle

Here is the link to view Bill B's Pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/137344663@N04/sets/72157663412575700/

View Jim's pictures: https://jimarendphotography.smugmug.com/Sports/Tuesday-Group-Hikes/20160126-Brock-Center/

Here are the answers to some of the questions the group had today.

1) What is the insulation?

· Roof – 8” of Extruded Polystyrene (known as XPS)

· Floor – 4” of XPS

· Walls – 3” of XPS on the outside of the building (right behind the siding) then regular fiberglass batt insulation behind the drywall.

o Generally speaking there are 4 types of insulation XPS which is a ridged board material. Fiberglass which can be in batts which are the pink rolls that most people know and in loose form. EPS or expanded polystyrene which is what most people recognize at Styrofoam which is actually a trademarked name. Not very efficient and bad for environment. Last is mineral wool which looks like the fiberglass stuff but denser and brown. People will ask you about this one because it’s very “green”. We didn’t use it because it’s really expensive.

2) Is there pine anywhere in the building?

· Just from looking at it I think the bleacher wood may have been a pine. None other known.

3) Can we purchase these solar panels locally? Who did we use?

· All the solar was bought and installed by IES commercial, the project electrician. If anyone wanted to talk they should contact Bob with IES. For the most part, though, they are commercial and there are plenty of local outfits that do residential style systems. If they are interested, reach out to the Hampton Roads Solar Tour.

Erica Nachman, Brock Environmental Center Coordinator

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

3663 Marlin Bay Dr. Virginia Beach VA 23455