It’s almost universally acknowledged that the “lowest hanging fruit” of renewable energy is, in fact, efficiency and conservation (www.energy.gov). Conventional wisdom dictates that every kilowatt of energy we don’t use is energy that doesn’t need to be generated, and in doing so we can save money and help protect our environment. It’s this understanding—particularly the cost-savings potential—that has motivated the dynamic shifts in recent years toward aggressive energy conservation policy and action on many campuses, in governments, across corporations, and within communities. But what about for those who may not know what options exist or, through circumstance, are prevented from controlling some of these choices in their daily lives?
The cost of living is on the rise nationally and Southern Minnesota is no exception. At the same time, housing shortages in areas with the best employment opportunities like Winona, Rochester, and Mankato, are putting pressure on the housing market and threatening to squeeze out what little affordable housing exists now, to say nothing of what could potentially be developed in the future. For landlords, there’s little incentive to invest in their properties by installing energy efficient appliances, fixtures, or weather-proofing when they have their pick of applicants who are willing to pay their own utilities. Meanwhile, many developers find it hard to secure financing for low-income or even below market-rate housing when there’s an abundance of higher-end buyers and renters, and often what is built to be affordable is not built well.
Recently, this discussion about housing and utility costs reached an interesting point in Rochester. At the same time as the city is dealing with intense pressure to show progress on a workforce housing plan to address the immense shortage in the community, Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) decided to adopt a deposit policy that would require over $100 upfront from new customers who don’t pass a credit check and simultaneously took up a proposal to raise their monthly fixed utility charge for electricity (Read more). All of this together pointed to a burden most families living paycheck-to-paycheck would not be able to shoulder and an impediment to necessary growth in the city. The cost of utilities is rarely disclosed to renters or homebuyers ahead of time and can be the difference between what is classified as affordable and what is actually affordable.
While we cannot tackle the whole problem, Rochester’s Energy Commission and the Rochester/Destination Medical Center Sustainability Director, Kevin Bright, are taking on a piece and hoping to turn a pilot effort into something more impactful. Last month, we began meeting with community stakeholders including Olmsted County Housing, RPU, Minnesota Energy and others to build support around an energy efficiency outrach project involving rental housing. The goal was to leverage the incredible volunteerism and generosity in the community and help ease the burden on some of the City’s lower income residents by swapping incandescent bulbs, old showerheads and sink aerators in their units for LEDs and upgraded fixtures. We toured two facilities to do an inventory of the different sized units, recorded what materials would be needed for each and then spoke with maintenance supervisors and facilities managers to get a better sense of opportunities and obstacles.
As a result of our research, Minnesota Energy has sent the sink aerators and showerheads for 60 units and RPU is poised to supply the necessary LED bulbs for all of the ceiling fixtures for the same units. Not only that, but Olmsted County is eager to see the results and partner with us to explore more of their available housing to assess potential savings and begin to establish goals for energy efficiency going forward. One possible benefit to the greater community is that by establishing some baseline metrics for these homes we’ve been allowed to see and expanding our research to single-family homes, we can begin to put together reasonably accurate information for homeowners about energy use and their potential for savings through a handful of simple changes.
The future of energy is moving away from fossil fuels and toward renewables, which will ultimately lower the costs for everyone. The transition will take time, but there’s no reason to miss out on opportunities to save money in the meantime by taking advantage of all of the cost savings associated with energy efficiency and conservation. Not everyone can afford to install the latest technology to monitor their homes or even swap outdated appliances for Energy Star rated ones. But, utilities are trying to be good partners by making resources available where they can so that everyone can do something to reduce energy consumption and save money, and ultimately, that makes all housing more affordable. I’ve been inspired by the enthusiasm and excitement around this initial, pilot project, and I look forward to seeing how our partnership is able to expand on it going forward!
