Largest Deep Energy Retrofit in the U.S. Underway - Castle Square Apartments

     I recently wrote about the Promise of Deep Energy Retrofits a few posts ago. Well today, I want to share some news about Castle Square Apartments, an existing 1960’s 192 unit mid-rise tower as part of an overall 500 unit low income housing project located in Boston’s South End, is an example of this growing trend.

US HUD Secretary Donovan is to far right of photo
Mass. Governor Menino is in the middle and congressman
Michael Capuano with glasses is in the back,  

    Today, Castle Square Apartments welcomed Shaun Donovan, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston and Congressman Capuano who toured the project to learn more about the nation's "largest and most aggressive energy savings project of its kind".  The joined members of the Castle Square Tenants Organization and WinnCompanies the co-developers and owners of this project.   They came to see for themselves the largest example yet of a Deep Energy Retrofit just beginning construction, an important foundation of a broad based strategy to fight climate change and achieve further energy independence.  It's also a great example of the Green Jobs movement in action.

After picture of Castle Square Apartments

    In a well-attended press conference, the visiting guests shared how they supported the work at Castle Square Apartments.  Secretary Donovan said, "We're proud to be a partner in delivering $6.7 million in funding to this project through our Recovery Act Green Retrofit Program that is creating hundreds of jobs and setting the standard for energy retrofits around the country.  By helping make this development more energy efficient we are also improving the quality of life for the hundreds of families who live here."
    Congressman Capuano said he "...appreciate(s) the oppourtunity to see firsthand how the Castle Square Apartments are being renovated with a specific focus on achieving energy savings. Federal stimulus money is being used to partially fund this project, which is creating jobs and improving the quality of life for tenants."
     Mayor Menino, reinforced how the project positively impacted the surrounding community by saying how it "...will create jobs for local workers, preserve 500 units of affordable housing for current and future working families of Boston, and its green design will contribute to the overall health of our City."  He went on further saying "Thanks to local residents and HUD for the collaboration and commitment to preserving Castle Square as a welcoming home for all who live here now and in the future."
    By reusing the existing housing complex and conducting a deep energy retrofit while part of an overall renovation of the apartment building, Castle Square sets a visionary example for others to learn from. With a goal to cut energy use by 72%, the project will take a deep bite out of it energy bill while dramatically reducing its carbon footprint. It also shows how non-profit organizations can continue to keep their missions viable to provide low-cost affordable housing far into the future, even with aging infrastructure.

Before picture of Castle Square Apartments

    Castle Square is the largest such project (the mid-rise tower portion) currently under construction in the U.S. at least for now. (I see this only as a good thing) The 1960’s era Byron Rogers Federal Office building in Denver by The Rocky Mountain Institute as part of its RetroFit program will likely be the largest but its a ways out for its construction. High profile examples of retrofits such as the Empire State Building while certainly an ambitious success story, with a projected 38% energy use reduction does not meet this more aggressive criteria.   

    A deep energy retrofit is broadly defined as a renovation of building producing at least 50% to as high as over 70% energy savings over existing code compliant buildings.  By heavily upgrading the building enclosure with super-insulation, high performance windows, lighting, advanced building systems and controls energy use as compared to typical buildings can be dramatically reduced.  Such efforts provide positive financial returns and savings over the long run.  Here in the U.S. existing buildings account for 40 percent(%) of the nation’s energy use and 38% if the carbon dioxide emissions. Thus we have a huge challenge before us.

        What Castle Square faced when beginning a renovation process a few years ago is what many face today around the country. Surging energy costs of almost 40% from a year ago clarifies the need to make real strides in energy efficiency to weather unpredictable ongoing operational costs not only for the next heating season but those over the next decade and beyond. Non-profits as well as colleges and universities face tough choices when facing potential renovations.  Deep Energy Retrofits offer a great strategy helping ensure ongoing viability, future affordability and predictability in energy costs.  

    But they require a commitment to integrated design process and deeper sustainability goals than typical projects which produce 30 to 40% energy savings as compared to base code case buildings.  Yesterday's "high performance buildings" getting to this level weren't necessarily short-sighted, they set the standard for their time but its time to turn up the volume on performance.

Cape Wind Gets Approval from the Federal Government

I read today in my local paper the Cape Wind Project gained approval from the Feds to proceed off Cape Cod. I understand there was immediate threats of lawsuits and further action. I hope this gets sorted out and this project can proceed. My guess, if this can happen, it will be helpful for other projects where clean energy, aesthetics, passion and a myriad of other issues come together. Of course, as they say in tight competitons, it's not over until it's over. Read more about it at CNET. Let me know what you think about this decision. See also the newscast found on YouTube.

It resonates close to home for me as I live in Vermont amidst a beautiful, scenic landscape with many oppourtunities for wind and solar energy and lots of challenges as well. All I want is to retain the historic, quirky character of this wonderful state while keeping our eyes and minds open to the realities of needing to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels and see alternatives in the clean energy economy. I'm not sure how to get it done but examples like Cape Wind at least offers hope the conversation is continuing to the next step. This I believe benefits us all.

Microgrid Houses, energy independance and giving back to the grid

In this summer's July / August issue of Fast Company Anya Kamenetz wrote an article an Why the Microgrid Could Be the Answer to Our Energy Crisis .

It identifies how the microgrid which is small scale consumer, commercial developer and municipality driven is at odds with the large scale smart grid, renewable energy industrialization efforts of large regional or national energy players. What's fascinating and powerful is how both together large and small can help provide needed renewable energy sources to all scales of users. And, the economic oppourtunity for redefining our troubled economy through the conversion to greener energy sources can only or the other but both together which is powerful. It's not Smart Grid vs. Microgrid but both, 1 + 1 = 5 etc. With multiple ways to deliver renewable energy in a more complex interdependant system we are all better off.

As she says "The microgrid is all about consumer control -- aligning monetary incentives, with the help of information technology, to make renewables and efficiency pay off for the average homeowner, commercial developer, or even a town. The name of the game is to scale up renewables big enough, fast enough, to bring the cost down to parity with conventional resources. "

Here in Vermont, one of our local energy companies, Green Mountain Power they have a 10,000 panels in 1,000 days program in their Choose to go solar campaign. They are committed to transforming the energy landscape in Vermont business, homeowners and municipalities and exemplify microgrid efforts on a more local scale. I believe we're in the midst of a viral consumer driven renewable energy revolution. Smart companies which realize this are stepping in like Green Mountain Power to help make it easy for consumers to green up their energy usage and create more energy independance on a local scale. It's the Wiki distributed and nimble consumer driven approach to change rather than old style large scale 1,000 acre wind or solar farm.

One thing however, the Microgrid house from the article which I include here falls short as an example but is worth including to get the conversation going. I agree the house can be a small power plant generating electricity but what's missing in the example are additional flyouts identifying smart choices for low use water fixtures, recycled materials in construction and finishes. Having a garage in the front helps make the case for the electric plug-in visually but speaks to broken conventional development patterns and attitudes. This is an incomplete picture at best.

Anyway, that's all with this post. I think I'd better offer some ideas about the ideal microgrid house in future posts. But please read the linked articles and information. And, any feedback or comments are welcome.