Shea Homes offers a glimpse of the future in Litchfield Park

I think I glimpsed the future during a tour of Shea Homes in Litchfield Park on Thursday. That future offers green homes, or better yet, platinum homes, as in Energy Star platinum. The houses have cathedralized insulation in the attic, which means that the insulation is blown into webs attached underneath the roof, which cools the attic considerably. That, in turn, keeps the house cooler. Anyone who has had to crawl into an attic in the middle of summer knows how hot it can get up there. This method holds the attic to about a 6-degree difference of the house. The insulation method is wet-blown cellulose, which is made up mostly of ground-up newspaper that is blown in a wee bit wet. It is blown into the cells between the wall studs and the insulation fills the gaps that traditional fiberglass insulation may leave. And like wet newspaper everywhere, it clings to its surroundings. When it dries, it expands and seals those gaps that let in air. For another $15,000, you can get the photovoltaic thermal option, which is solar panels on the roof that collect both heat and air that run through the house to help power it and to heat the house and water. The extra energy your house creates is sold back to your utility.

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