Deterrents to energy conservation investment in public housing

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · Energy Syst. Policy; (United States)

OSTI ID:7034911

Mills, E; Ritschard, R L; Goldman, C A

In an effort to reduce rising energy costs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has strongly urged local public housing authorities (PHAs) to improve the energy efficiency of their building stock. In this study, the authors examine the relative impact on HUD and PHAs of four retrofit financing strategies used by two local housing authorities. They find that the existing Performance Funding System (PFS) regulations tend to discourage PHAs from actively pursuing cost-effective investments that improve the energy efficiency of their housing projects. The authors' results indicate that HUD policies distribute the dollar savings from conservation retrofits in such a way that HUD receives substantial benefits, while local public housing authorities get few benefits. In fact, PHAs can lose money, even in cases where there are significant energy savings and payback periods of less than three years. The authors tested several alternatives to the current regulations and found that the best way to encourage PHAs to conserve is for HUD to reimburse them for new maintenance and capital costs of the conservation retrofits.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., Applied Science Div., Energy Analysis Program, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (US)
• OSTI ID: 7034911
• Journal Information: Energy Syst. Policy; (United States), Journal Name: Energy Syst. Policy; (United States) Vol. 11:3; ISSN ESYPB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320105* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Building Services-- (1987-)
320900 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Education & Public Relations-- (1980-)
BUILDINGS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
FINANCING
INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
REGULATIONS
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
RETROFITTING
REVIEWS
US HUD
US ORGANIZATIONS