Addressing Operational Energy Challenges for Non-Urban Low-Rise Multifamily Housing

A person in a hard hat and applies caulk to a window.

Photo from Getty Images, 1300212981

Project Information

Partners

Team Lead: Earth Advantage
Research Member: Ecotope
Implementation Member: Elevate
Industry Member: Green Savers

Location

Pacific Northwest, starting in Jefferson County, Oregon

Anticipated Completion

Mid-2027

Challenge to Solve

This Building America Retrofit Solutions team will focus on enhancing the energy efficiency and resilience of low-rise, multifamily buildings in under-resourced Pacific Northwest communities. These buildings include older rental homes that often house vulnerable populations.

Approach and Impact

The team will improve building envelopes, which are the parts of a building (such as windows and doors) that separate the inside from the outside. These improvements will provide long-term benefits to building owners and tenants by increasing energy efficiency and helping to future-proof homes against climate challenges and extreme weather.

Many buildings within the team's target demographic share similar configurations and performance challenges. The team will identify and categorize typical building types that represent these commonly found conditions. This standardization can make it easier for others to do the same work and get the same benefits across different settings.

Using robust partnerships with building owners, tenants, and local organizations, the team will:

Demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the retrofits through pilot projects. Complete multi-measure retrofits on 2–5 non-urban, multifamily buildings, focusing on protection from weather and adding electric heat pumps.
Monitor and evaluate post-retrofit performance.
Develop and validate a toolkit to help contractors identify the most relevant energy-efficiency measures for a property.
Compile a financial resource guide for building owners and contractors.

The team’s collaborations with local organizations will empower communities to take charge of identifying retrofit opportunities to improve existing buildings.

American communities may benefit from the team’s work to:

Decrease energy burden, with a target of reducing household energy costs by 30%.
Improve indoor air quality through reduced levels of particulates, formaldehyde, and carbon dioxide.
Enhance resilience to extreme weather events through envelope retrofits and reduced strain on the electrical grid.
Increase job opportunities in the residential energy-efficiency industry.

About Building America Retrofit Solutions

As part of a Building Technologies Office initiative, the nine cross-sector Building America Retrofit Solutions teams are working on one- to three-year community-focused field validation and demonstration projects that will address hard-to-solve technical challenges of increasing efficiency, affordability, and comfort of existing homes.