SRI values for Common Hardscape Surfaces

Rating: No Rating

Currently on a furious internet search, but might someone also point me the way to find reliable or at least thumb-rule applicable SRI values...especially on common landscape surfaces? Most troublesome for now is SRI for natural stone, which quarries or stone suppliers don't seem to imagine as info worth considering/supplying/disseminating nowadays, 21st Century A.L. (Age of LEED).

Tags: reflectance, albedo, index, leed, solar

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Oona on September 10, 2009 at 9:24pm: I have problems with finding SRI values for natural stone and decomposed granite also. The supplier or quarry will need to get it tested. Of course, natural stone tends to vary...but I think you will know if you are within range. The LEED Reference Guide (SSc7.1) lists SRI for standard paving materials i.e. Typical New Grey Concrete SRI = 35, Typical Weathered gray concrete = 19, Typical New White Concrete SRI = 86, Typical Weathered White Concrete = 45, New Asphalt SRI = 0, Weathered Asphalt SRI = 6.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joy Kuebler on September 23, 2009 at 10:25am: Not that this is directly related to your question, but am I the only one having issues with the whole reflectivity and pavement issue. I was just in Chicago for the ASLA conference and the presentation on the new Tiffany Garden specifically mentioned that they had to do a special treatment on the concrete pavement because they were having so much trouble with the glare!! We do quite a bit of work for schools and hospitals and kids and elderly are not the only people with light sensitivity and glare issues. I am hoping with the new Sustainable Sites Initiative we will have better mechanisms to use reflective surfaces where appropriate and not use them just because we want the darn point....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Oona on September 23, 2009 at 11:47am: I understand your point Joy - in Monterey, CA, where I am now, we don't have a problem with the urban heat island effect. Cool ocean winds cool our pavements naturally. In fact, usually we want them "warmer" anyway. So you bring up a good point, not just with the glare, but the correct application of strict SRI indices. In an dense, hot, urban environment like LA or Atlanta, I can see this point being extremely important. It just means as educated green savvy professionals or LEED APs, we need to educate our project team and ask is this point really necessary in the grand scheme of things?; ▶ Reply to This