Center for Building Knowledge

As a team member in the Department of Energy Building America Program, the Center is helping to develop packages of energy efficiency retrofit measures that Public Housing Authorities (PHA’s) can cost-effectively implement when units are refurbished between occupancies. Over one million HUD-supported public housing units provide rental housing for eligible low-income families across the country. These units range from scattered single-family houses to high-rise apartments. This project – which is being conducted in cooperation with ARIES, another Building America team - will consist of a field evaluation in which energy audits will be performed on a sample of PHA units, a protocol will be developed for typical units, the protocol will be implemented by PHA staff, and the effectiveness of the protocol will be quantified through field testing and modeling. Finally an outreach strategy will be developed based on the results of this project for the public housing audience allowing other PHA’s to repeat the success of the program.