Energy conservation in public housing: the San Francisco experience

Conference · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:6371693

Goldman, C; Ritschard, R; Atkielski, R

In 1982, the San Francisco Housing Authority began installing specified energy conservation measures financed under a zero interest loan program (ZIP) from the local utility company. The retrofit measures included attic insulation, exterior door weatherstripping, low-flow showerheads, and water heater blankets. By the end of 1983, 4082 apartments (59% of the authority's units) had been weatherized at a cost of approximately $396,000. Three years of metered gas consumption data are analyzed including one year of post-retrofit data, for five family housing projects (totalling 1980 units) in an attempt to determine energy savings attributable to the retrofits. Post-retrofit energy consumption levels are 7 to 20% lower in the four projects that saved energy. Analysis of model parameter estimates indicates that the energy savings are due to reduced baseload use. This result suggests that measures designed to reduce hot water consumption were particularly effective. In the fifth project, annual energy use increased by 14%. Overall, the Housing Authority's recent retrofit efforts in the five projects are cost-effective, with an average simple payback of 4.6 years and a cost of conserved energy of $2.50/MBtu. The Housing Authority's efforts to retain tight budgetary control over retrofit costs, which averaged only $150/unit, contributed to the program's success. The study also examines the applicability of a building energy analysis model to multi-family building located in mild climates. We find that it is important to account explicitly for changes in vacancy rates in analyzing consumption patterns, particularly when evaluating the impact of retrofits in multi-family buildings with high turnover and fluctuating occupancy rates.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA); San Francisco Housing Authority, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 6371693
• Report Number(s): LBL-17994; CONF-840819-12; EEB-BED-84-03; ON: DE85000319
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
APARTMENT BUILDINGS
APPLIANCES
ATTICS
BUILDINGS
CALIFORNIA
CONTROL
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
FEDERAL REGION IX
FLOW RATE
HEATERS
HOT WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PAYBACK PERIOD
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
RETROFITTING
THERMAL INSULATION
USA
WATER
WATER HEATERS
WEATHERIZATION
WEATHERSTRIPPING