Newport is currently working on a multifamily energy retrofit project that should be interesting to our readers. The project, located in southeast Washington, DC, is a transitional shelter owned and operated by Sasha Bruce Youthworks, Inc. The building itself is over 4,000 square feet and is basically two older townhouses coupled together.
Front View of Property (includes tan brick portion on right and wood siding portion on left)
Newport conducted an energy audit and recommended a series of improvements including: some window replacement, multiple appliance upgrades, replacement of HVAC equipment, replace one of the water heaters, duct sealing, air sealing, lighting replacement, programmable thermostats, attic insulation and the installation of motion control sensors. All together we expect that these improvements will reduce the energy use by over 40%! The building will be monitored to better understand the impact of individual improvements.
Exterior lights: Should go to 100% CFL or comparable bulbs with photo-sensor or motion sensor controls; this will avoid the need for many buildings occupants to manage on/off switch settings
The retrofit started this morning! Follow us this week as we post a new daily blog entry.
Thanks to Wal-Mart for funding the hard costs of the retrofit; HomeAid and Home Builders Care Foundation for applying for the Wal-Mart funding and managing the effort; the Department of Energy for sponsoring the monitoring and research; and, Efficient Homes for carrying out the retrofit.