For one Connecticut community bank, "green" means much more than money. Rockville Bank - whose environmental conscience includes the construction of the state's first "all-green" bank branch - is partnering with a local builder on a model of cutting-edge, low-energy technology in residential home construction.
Projected for completion this summer, the 4,950 s/f single-family house at 35 West Hills Dr. is designed and being built by Bill Ferrigno and Sunlight Construction, Inc. of Avon, his custom home company. The five-bedroom, three-story, high-end traditional home incorporates a wide variety of sophisticated, new cost-effective technology and techniques that conserve energy or utilize alternate energy strategies. The result will be dramatically less energy consumption than the average American home.
"Rockville Bank has a strong track record of supporting 'green' products and initiatives," said Mark Kucia, senior vice president and commercial banking officer for Rockville Bank. "And Sunlight Construction has been a solid customer of ours for years. So when they offered us the chance to become involved with a residential prototype that is good for the environment and very appealing to the eye, we jumped at the opportunity to provide financing for the project."
"The science behind our energy-efficient prototype is as much common sense as it is sophisticated technology," said Bill Ferrigno, president of Sunlight Construction and a builder for 30 years. "It proves that a complex energy-efficient house can also be architecturally attractive." Ferrigno adds that this home will be virtually indistinguishable from the 13 other conventionally constructed residences he is building in the West Hills of Avon luxury subdivision off West Avon Rd. (Rte. 167).
Located on a lot selected for its southern exposure, the house's solar photovoltaic energy-producing cells will help to run the electrical infrastructure and the majority of the lighting will be energy-efficient LED fixtures. Domestic hot water will be provided by a 95% efficient tankless hot water heater and all appliances will be Energy Star rated. The subdivision is served by natural gas.
"Designing this house actually changed my thinking about how to plan and market the rest of the subdivision," adds Ferrigno. While constructing the new house, Sunlight Construction became a certified geothermal and photovoltaic installer.
For years, Sunlight Construction has worked with Rockville Bank for the financing of construction and development that includes Phillips Farm, a 66-home active adult residential development in East Hartford, as well as Cambridge Crossing and Devonshire Lane in Avon, and the current West Hills of Avon project.
Rockville Bank made history in 2009 when its newest Manchester branch became Connecticut's first bank to be built with the entire property utilizing "green" technology and engineering. It was constructed with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) principles, incorporating the latest techniques of energy efficient design.