Egleston Crossing, a two-building residential development located at 3033 Washington St. in Roxbury (above) and 3089 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain, has won the 2005 Energy Star Builder Achievement Award from the New England Joint Management Committee.
A new two-building residential development on the border of Boston’s Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods is providing 64 units of affordable housing and is winning awards for its energy-saving efforts. The community, called Egleston Crossing and located at 3033 Washington St. in Roxbury and 3089 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain, recently received the 2005 Energy Star Builder Achievement Award from the New England Joint Management Committee, or JMC.
JMC, a consortium of utility companies and energy efficiency service providers, was created to uphold and recognize the national standards of Energy Star Homes locally in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The award is given annually and includes four categories: affordable housing, developer, custom-home builder and technical school.
Roxbury-based Urban Edge, a nonprofit community development corporation, received the award for adhering to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Homes guidelines throughout the development process.
Egleston Crossing sits on what used to be two dilapidated sites once home to an abandoned auto garage and a decrepit theater building. The brownfields redevelopment includes four ground-floor retail spaces and, in one of the residential buildings, 15 of the 20 units have been set aside for homeless people with disabilities and their families.
The environmental elements of the project were conceived in the earliest development stages.
“Early on in the schematic design phase [Urban Edge] decided to provide a focus on a more environmentally sensitive approach,” said Noah Maslan, project manager for Egleston Crossing. “We received a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to determine the feasibility of renewable energy and high-performance building techniques. We also worked closely with Energy Star and determined that we could reduce energy demand by at least 30 percent, if not 40 percent or over, with renewable energy.”
The method of energy that Urban Edge chose was solar. Having received an additional grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Egleston Crossing features a 64-kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic system.
‘A Pretty Neat Building’
The solar installation involved the participation of Westborough-based Conservation Services Group, which works with builders, homeowners and architects to create Energy Star Homes like Egleston Crossing.
“Urban Edge has a pretty neat building,” said John Livermore, an Energy Star project manager with CSG. “The solar installation was a huge positive. A 1-kilowatt photovoltaic system will generate about 1,000 watts. That’s 63,000 watts. If you think about it in terms of 100-watt light bulbs, then that’s a lot of light bulbs. And actually, they went with compact fluorescent lighting, which is significantly more efficient, so it’s even more impressive.”
Ultimately, the photovoltaic cells will generate between 30 percent and 40 percent of the energy needed to power the common areas in Egleston Crossing’s two buildings.
“What we wanted to do was take whatever energy we were creating on the roof and direct it to supplement the tenants’ meters, but no one to this date has figured out how to do that. It’s impossible to actually tap into each separate meter – it needs to go to just one meter. So we decided to direct it to common area uses, which will in turn benefit tenants. Plus, tenants will save even further because we used Energy Star lighting throughout.”
In addition to the environmentally conscious energy system and lighting, Egleston Crossing also features Energy Star refrigerators and windows, as well as cellulose insulation and high-efficiency ventilation.
“They used spray foam insulation, which is superior to any sort of traditional [blanket] insulation technology. It fills up all of the cracks and gaps and does a significant amount of air sealing while insulating. The better insulated and air-sealed your building shell is, the smaller heating system you need and the less fuel you need, which makes it more affordable,” said Livermore.
In fact, although many people are under the impression that those sorts of environmentally conscious building measures add costs to projects, many generate long-term savings.
“It’s a common misconception that energy-efficient buildings have to cost more. The truth is even if they do cost more upfront, a lot of strategies can be used to balance that and even decrease cost,” said Livermore.
All of the apartments in Egleston Crossing have low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, water-saving faucets and showerheads, and both buildings are landscaped with native, drought-resistant plantings. According to Urban Edge, such green measures are expected to save the project up to 50 percent on energy costs.
Urban Edge recently applied for, and received, an additional grant from the Garfield Foundation that will act to institutionalize a more environmentally sound approach within the company itself, according to Maslan.
“We’re going to be looking at how to take a more environmental approach to maintenance of the more than 1,200 units of housing we maintain,” he said.
Egleston Crossing is nearing completion, with one building occupied and the other not far from it. Once the project is finished, Urban Edge plans to apply for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification.
“Urban Edge has carefully ensured that every aspect of Egleston Crossing, from the lighting to the insulation, has exceeded the EPA’s high standards for building performance,” said Beth Lonergan, a member of the JMC who also manages the Energy Star Homes program for NSTAR. “Urban Edge is a leader in the market who is building the homes of tomorrow, today.”
