Climate Resilient Energy Codes
Energy security for multifamily affordable housing residents.
Fortifying affordable housing with energy efficiency improvements and resilient energy technologies can enable residents to safely shelter in place during power outages and reduce energy costs throughout the year.
Climate resilient energy systems that keep essential services powered during emergencies, such as solar paired with battery storage, can provide invaluable support to multifamily affordable housing residents, particularly those reliant on medical devices or with limited mobility, while also reducing energy burdens and decreasing harmful emissions. The affordable housing sector faces unique challenges in implementing these systems, including technical, structural, and financial barriers. Building codes provide a distinct opportunity to codify best practices for innovative resilience solutions in multifamily affordable housing and other community-serving facilities, expanding access to climate resilient energy technologies for those most in need during times of crisis.
This project is made possible through a funding award from the US Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE). EERE’s mission is to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of technologies and solutions to equitably transition America to a net-zero economy by no later than 2050. To learn more, visit energy.gov/eere.
Who We Serve
Multifamily affordable housing properties serve some of the most climate vulnerable populations in the US, including elderly residents, veterans, and residents with serious health conditions, as well as lower-income households with limited access to the resources needed to respond and adapt to increasingly frequent severe weather conditions and power outages. For millions of medically vulnerable people across the country, even short-duration power disruptions can result in severe, and in some cases life-threatening, impacts. The project team strives to ensure that the concerns and priorities of affordable housing residents are served throughout the work of this initiative.
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Meet Our Team
Photo Credits, top to bottom: Alpinist/Bigstock.com; anatoliy_gleb/Bigstock.com; Lev Karavanov/Bigstock.com
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