• Sustainability

  • LEED on East College Street
  • Location
  • Deconstruction
  • Energy Monitoring and Feedback System
  • Insulation and Heat Island Reduction
  • Sustainable Materials and Energy Star
  • Daylighting and High Performance Windows
  • On-Demand Hot Water Heaters
  • Rainwater Collection and Reduced Water Use
  • Renewable Energy
  • Local Food Production
  • The Tree!

Insulation and Heat Island Reduction

(aerial photo of the East College Street Development)

The most impactful and the least exotic thing you can do to make your home energy efficient is to properly insulate it. The roof is insulated with a closed-cell polyisocyanurate foam and has a minimum R-value of 45 (in some places, over R-50) and the walls are R-21. These both far exceed a conventionally constructed building.

The roof on the ECSP is a white thermoplastic with a high Solar Reflectance Index (SRI), which minimizes heat absorption during the summer and reduces the energy needed for cooling. It also helps to reduce the “heat island” effect, in which towns and cities are hotter during the summer than surrounding areas, because of all of the asphalt roads, parking lots, and roofs that absorb heat from the sun.