Addressing Energy Efficiency in the Rental Housing Sector

Transcription

1 Addressing Energy Efficiency in the Rental Housing Sector February 22, 2011 Speakers: Julia Eagles, Metro CERT Diana McKeown, Metro CERT Will Delaney, Hope Community

2 Presentation Overview Introduction: Background, experience on this issue Case Studies: Ventura Flats, Phillips neighborhood pilot Hope Community SummerHouse Beat Betty Competition CAPRW Workshops Recommendations Q & A/Discussion Time

3 Clean Energy Resource Teams Our Mission: Giving community members a voice in energy planning by connecting them with the technical resources necessary to identify and implement communityscale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects

4 CERTs Programs MN Schools Cutting Carbon GreenStep Cities CERTified Campaigns Seed grant funding Resources: Case studies, project planning worksheets

5 The issue Energy Efficiency in rental housing Barriers: Split incentive Market segmentation Baseline information Poor access to information Financial Constraints Owner motivation

6 Background CERTs involvement in this issue: Common Grounds report Phillips community project Participation in Rental Housing Energy Efficiency Working Group Multi-family benchmarking pilot

7 Ventura Flats Building Profile

8 Ventura Flats Tenant Profile Demographics: Very diverse community: Ventura Village Household incomes under $20,000 Families, couples, single tenants No direct government rent subsidies

9 Energy Improvements at Ventura Flats Lighting replacements: outdoor security and common areas (exterior CFL and interior T8) Water savings: Fixed leaks, installed low-flow showerheads & faucet aerators Heating/AC with HydraMetrics 55% Alside window replacements on the 3 rd floor Replaced 11 refrigerators with Energy Star models Duro-Last white-roof replacement Boiler Room ventilation and management improvements Appliances 15% Energy-efficiency audits in income Water qualified Heating units10% Lights, electronics 20%

10 Ventura Flats Project Summary Approached by owner for appliance replacement program Held workshops in the building, incentives for tenants who attended & installed materials Created case study on the property Outreach with Xcel Energy for tenants Home Electric Savings Program outreach Benchmarking project

11 Ventura Flats Lessons Learned

12 Ventura Flats Benchmarking Water consumption Gal per day Hydrometrics Improvements Month

13 Ventura Flats Benchmarking Comparison

14 Hope Community Building Profile 173 units, 6 properties, 400 total residents Mix of single family units, duplexes, triplexes, 4-story buildings Mixed Income, mixed-use buildings (commercial, office, community spaces) Owner pays common area utilities, water/sewer Programmable thermostats in all new construction Buildings constructed or rehabbed between 1994 and 2010

15 Hope Community Tenant Profile Demographics: Median Income ~$17,000 annually ($12k for affordable units, $30k for market-rate tenants) 80% non-white (40% African refugees/immigrants) Average household size = supportive housing units

16 Hope Community Project Summary Hope has worked on both developing green buildings and educating residents to live sustainably. Started with handbooks, evolved to orientation video, workshops, benchmarking, and more. Sustainability fits with Hope s neighborhood revitalization mission. Challenge green construction has reduced benefit to owner if resident behavior runs counter to energy saving projections. The Wellstone Apartments are part of the MN Green Communities Projects

17 Community garden and native landscaping High efficiency heating & cooling Tenant education Green Features at Hope Community What s been done: Green and sustainable features at The Wellstone including: solar thermal panels, energy efficient appliances, low flow water Heating/AC fixtures (showerheads, 55% toilets) Reused building site and supplies Location- Bike, walk and bus accessible Lights, electronics 20% Appliances 15%

18 Tenant Orientation video: Hope Community Multiple languages (English, Spanish, Somali) Introduces thermostats, energy-saving tips Tenant workshops on energy efficiency Benchmarking: Tracking impact of energy-efficient retrofits and resident outreach at Jourdain building (41 units)

19 SummerHouse Beat Betty Competition Building/Tenant Profile SummerHouse: 72-unit senior living apartment facility in Shoreview Owned and operated by Presbyterian Homes Active members of Shoreview Green Communities Sierra Club and motivated tenants Tenants pay electricity, gas Project Profile Got utility data releases from participating tenants Created a competition comparing participating resident s utility data from February 08 to February 09 Included education of building manager which led to common area changes

20 SummerHouse Energy Improvement Suggestions

21 SummerHouse Beat Yourself Competition Overall Building Goal: 15% savings In one year s time, Tenant H made the greatest electricity savings (32%), Tenant B made the greatest natural gas savings (25%) and also the greatest energy cost savings (24%)! Energy Cost Gas $ Gas (btu/square foot/hdd) A B C D E F G H I Average

22 SummerHouse Beat Betty Competition Lessons learned: Find a resident spark plug Apples to apples comparison Competition helps motivate Work with the property mgmt Understand what is motivating Make it fun!

23 Community Action Partnership of Ramsey & Washington Counties Building Profiles: Raymie Johnson Estates- Supportive Housing Rivertown Commons Apartments- Section 8 and Subsidized housing Mixed elderly and chemically dependent tenants Tenants pay electricity, many receive energy assistance Project Profile: Worked with Community Action agency to do presentations on basic ways to save energy and money during energy assistance application days Did walk-through of the building to identify opportunities for energy savings

24 Community Action Partnership of Ramsey Lessons learned & Washington Counties Be careful not to suggest things that are against building rules (ex. plastic on windows) Walk through helpful to give specific recommendations Give praise for what the property manager is already doing/has done Tailor the presentation to your audience

25 Recommendations Behavioral psychology Tenant engagement Property owner/manager engagement Workshop format Benchmarking and measurement Program referrals

26 Recommendations Info learned from behavioral psychology: Know your audience Make the action you want them to take the default Normalize this behavior in the building

27 Recommendations How did we effectively engage tenants? Word of mouth, personal recruitment worked better than flyers Find an energy spark plug in the property Have tenants help with outreach (door knock the building, etc.) Incentives help, but only to a point Pros and cons of incentives Make the incentives match the population Stress the easy options, the low-hanging fruit Hold the workshop in a time/place that tenants are used to Make the workshop mandatory: pros and cons

28 Recommendations How did we effectively engage property managers? Build a relationship with the property owner/manager first Walk-through of the building, to see what s been done and identify further opportunities Access utility data (whole building and individual units) Identify and celebrate actions that have already been taken Have the information still visible after the workshop

29 Recommendations Workshop Format: Why save energy? Focus on the no-cost, low-cost first Include potential cost savings Include what s been done already Building walk-through to identify additional opportunities Break down home energy use by: heating & cooling, lights & electronics, appliances, and water heating Offer energy savings opportunities in each of those areas Heating/AC 55% Lights, electronics 20% Appliances 15% Water Heating 10%

30 Recommendations Survey the property: Building age, size, utility payment structure, heating and cooling system, appliances- age, number, water heating system Survey the tenants: What motivates them to save energy, what are they doing in their homes already, what messages resonate

31 Recommendations Benchmark the property

32 Questions & Discussion

33 Contact Info Julia Eagles: Metro CERT Coordinator, Eureka Recycling Phone: Will Delaney: Real Estate Specialist, Hope Community, Inc. Phone: Diana McKeown: Metro CERT Director, Eureka Recycling Phone: