One local construction project is using cutting edge green technology that is saving both money and fuel.

Action News reporter Erin Clark went to see how the sun and wind are helping to build senior housing units in Endwell.

Construction of the new Good Shepard Village in Endwell is a huge undertaking, with about 150 people working full time at the site.

But if you walk around the grounds, you won't see gasoline-powered generators.

Carpenters here have been off the grid since January, thanks to 2 solar-wind powered generators.
"Basically the sun, the more intense it is, the more amperage you get in the controller, so the faster it charges the batteries."

"The first day he had to use a diesel generator while his panels powered up, since then he's just built all these buildings using solar and wind energy."
Dick Gammell developed the technology as gas prices soared last summer.
"I was going to the gas station probably every other day, filling 8, 5-gallon cans. So then we started experimenting with batteries.

Gammell said he's saved over 550 gallons of fuel in a 4 month period of use. Good Shepard Village is thrilled that the site has gone green, even in the construction phase. "Certainly this is something that our depositors and our people that are moving in have expressed that they have an interest in, and I think we all want to reduce our carbon footprint."
"Even though these solar wind generator units are only being used in construction sites right now, the potential is there to use them in other applications, maybe even something you have right in your driveway."

"I think its got a high potential of charging electric vehicles. Get the electric vehicles going, charge them off the sun. You've eliminated the oil first of all, and then you've eliminated the CO2 emissions."

Gammell hopes to develop the solar-wind generators further, and possibly sell them in the future.
In Endwell, Erin Clark, WBNG-TV, Action News.