Planted in late August, 2004, the 50,000 ft2 manufacturing and office facility is located in Rockford, MN. The building and site were designed to meet the needs of a functioning, fast growing corporation while mitigating the environmental impact. Although the industrial use of the building and site provided a number of challenges, this same use offered many opportunities for sustainable design. The ERSystems and Prairie Technologies corporate headquarters is unique in the Midwest and demonstrates that industrial buildings can economically minimize their environmental impact. The project is currently registered with the USGBC (US Green Building Council) in their LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. In February 2005, the building was awarded the ?2005 Excellence in Design Award? by the National Roofing Contractors Association for its innovative roof design. The building has also received the ?Energy Star Label for Buildings? based on the guidelines provided by the U.S. EPA and DOE.
According to Professional Roofing Magazine, “The primary purpose of the building’s roof system design was to create a working laboratory that could generate data?such as reflectivity, emissivity, water retention and thermal resistance?from a variety of roof systems exposed to a single climate. The roof includes four sections: 5,000 square feet (465 m?) of green roof; 20,000 square feet (1858 m?) of white reflective PVC membrane; 3,000 square feet (279 m?) of black EPDM membrane; and 22,000 square feet (2044 m?) of EPDM membrane coated with a highly reflective white acrylic coating.”

Read the entire April 2006 Professional Roofing Magazine article “Stay cool – A roof system on a Minnesota building demonstrates energy-saving technology” by Tim Leonard, CEM, and Tony Leonard here. Tim Leonard, CEM, is chief executive officer of ERSystems Inc., Rockford, Minn., and Tony Leonard is president and director of sales for ERSystems.