Energy Retrofit Updates

14 Leroy Street, the site of BNCLT’s energy retrofit project.

With spring renewal, it’s a great time to think about renewable energy, resilience, and ways to address climate change. So much of Boston’s housing stock is made up of old, energy-inefficient buildings. And yet, these homes are an important target for us to preserve as an anti-displacement strategy. BNCLT has taken its first steps in making our properties more energy efficient. We are in the process of weatherizing our buildings, starting with 31 Leroy Street, 632 West Park Street, and 6 Humphreys Place. We are also gearing up to start our energy retrofit at 14 Leroy Street. Thanks to partners at Mass CEC, Urban Ecology, and ABCD, and with our contractors Andrea Vilanova and David McDonald, the team has been hard at work to consider energy alternatives for the building that will reduce the carbon footprint while also keeping energy costs low for our tenants.   

What does it take to make a building energy efficient? One of the biggest issues is that old buildings are often “porous” — meaning there are a lot of gaps in the walls, under doors, in the roof, or in old windows that allow energy to escape. Hot and cold air more easily move in and out of the building, so summers can be especially hot and winters can be especially cold. The team of energy experts took a close look at our building, measured where air could escape, and came up with a design for what we can do to maximize the energy-efficiency.  

First, let’s get rid of fossil fuels in our building by swapping out old boilers with energy-efficient electric heat pumps. But if that’s going to work well, we need to “seal the envelope” of the building — meaning we need to insulate the walls and the roof, improve the windows, and install new siding. We also need to make sure there is adequate ventilation. If feasible, there may be the option to add solar panels to the roof by renting out our roof to a solar company. The solar energy gets fed into the grid, and a portion of the savings can go back to the tenants after paying for other electrical costs.  

14 Leroy Street is one of the first triple deckers to be part of this Triple Decker Affordable Housing Energy Retrofit pilot, hosted by MassCEC. We are hoping to have all of the plans and funding in place to be able to get started in early summer. If all goes well, perhaps we can replicate this model across other BNCLT buildings — to bring more savings to our tenants and become more environmentally resilient in the face of climate change.