Super-i nsulated Cladding Cuts Energy Costs and Improves Occupant Health in an Affordable-housing Community he term “deep-energy retrofit,” or
WRITTEN BY | Heather Clark, LEED AP, and Bruce Hampton, AIA, LEED AP
DER, may not be familiar to every building professional but the concept certainly is: Take a poor-performing building, execute a number of high-
quality renovations of the enclosure and mechanical systems, add renewables where possible and return energy savings of at least 50 percent to the owners. The retrofit strategies are fairly straight-
forward: First, improve the enclosure’s insulating value through overcladding with super insulation. Then seal against air leaks, minimizing one of the nation’s leading causes of building energy loss. With the tight, thermally optimized envelope, the project team then easily can scale down heating and cooling equipment. As a bonus, add solar, wind power or a mix of these to reduce utility demand.
By actively choosing this unusually aggres-
sive approach of super insulation combined with other energy-reduction measures, the residents of Castle Square Apartments, an affordable-housing community, have made waves in their hometown of Boston and in the design and construction industries.
Setting Plans in Motion Faced with their completely outdated, energy-devouring 500-unit, 7-story apart- ment complex in Boston’s rapidly gentrify- ing South End neighborhood, in 2008 the Castle Square Tenants Organization (CSTO) in partnership with Boston-based WinnDe- velopment, a real-estate developer, engaged a team of seasoned DER experts to under- take a high-profile, high-efficiency make- over. The team included enclosure experts from Somerville, Mass.-based Building Sci- ence Corp.; Boston-based Elton + Hampton Architects; Portsmouth, N.H.-based Petersen