KANE — A new radio series was launched on 101.7 WXZY on August 16, to highlight local people who have been involved with the Kane Passive House and its construction.

The Passive House project is being led by the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF) to transform 63 Fraley Street into an ultra-energy efficient building.

Renovating to the stringent requirements of Passive House Institute EnterPhit standard will greatly reduce the building’s energy demand, increase the thermal comfort for occupants and ensure that 63 Fraley Street remains a durable, resilient part of uptown Kane. Prior to this project, 63 Fraley Street was the home of the Moose Club and Colonial restaurant and had been sitting vacant for years. It is now being renovated and on track to receive one of the first retrofit Passive House certifications of a commercial building in the United States.

Kate Kennedy, executive director of the Kane Area Development Center (KADC), is organizing the radio series and conducting the interviews in order to help bring awareness to the project. “The Kane Passive House is a wonderful asset to Kane,” said Kennedy. “There are so many local people who have been involved in bringing this project to Kane as well as doing their trade to build it. I thought it would be great to hear directly from these people about what they are learning as they have gotten involved and how they see this experience impacting their work and our community.”

The radio series will air on Kane’s radio station 101.7 WXZY for 8 weeks during the following times: Mondays after the 9 a.m. news and weather, Wednesday after the 12 p.m. news and weather, and Friday after the 4 p.m. weather report. Interviews will be archived on the radio’s website at www.wxzyradio.com and on the KADC’s blog at www.kanepa.com.