Year-End Story #2
An Energy Retrofit Project Pursues Environmental Justice Alongside Affordable Housing
For this year-end story, BNCLT interviews Andrea Vilanova, one of our organization’s contracted staff. Andrea is BNCLT’s “clerk of the works” who supports BNCLT’s collaboration with our general contractor. Andrea is passionate about the CLT model, and is always thinking about the full picture of "healthy housing" when making construction decisions.
In the interview, Andrea discusses BNCLT's energy retrofit project at 14 Leroy Street, our newest property. This building was purchased in June, 2022, and former tenants continue to live here. BNCLT received a Triple Decker Energy Retrofit grant for this property, and plans are underway to convert the building to be 100% electrical and achieve other energy savings.
We are so excited Andrea took the time to speak with us, and look forward to sharing her insights!
14 Leroy Street, Energy Retrofit Project Site
What draws you to BNCLT? Why do you think BNCLT’s work is important?
What draws me to BNCLT, which is different from other nonprofits that I have worked with, is that they are trying to make a community out of their portfolio. And not only have separate projects here and there that are isolated on their own, and not engaged with each other. So that’s something that’s important and new. And they also are trying to engage the community around them, and make community, and not just be in the community. So I think that’s very important for the urban fabric, especially in our conditions in Boston, where people are sometimes isolated, and they may need a neighbor to help them out.
What is your role in the energy retrofit project?
My role as the project manager on the energy retrofit is to bring together the scope of work and recommendations from our consultants, and actually provide construction scope — drawings, or construction assemblies — for the general contractor to take it to fruition.
BNCLT Tour of the 14 Leroy Street Energy Retrofit, August 2022
Why do you think it’s important to think about energy retrofits as a part of affordable housing work? Why is an energy retrofit a good opportunity for BNCLT?
It’s a good idea because with a retrofit, you are basically bringing a very old building that is no longer up to date with the world now, and try to “green it up” for our future. First, we’re trying to get rid of carbons, so we’re only going to be using electricity with the new building. And to make that affordable, we have to improve the construction of the building itself. For the actual project to make sense for tenants, since we are not only trying to make the building better — a little tighter, more insulated, more energy efficient — but we’re also trying to lower the bills for the tenant. So if we don’t improve the building’s envelope, we will not improve the tenants’ utility bill affordability.
What are some of the technical things BNCLT is trying to accomplish with the energy retrofit project?
We are trying to achieve a well-insulated building that is not going to lose heat, or cold air in the summer and the winter. [As I mentioned, we are going to] remove gas use from the building. We’re also going to upgrade the incoming electric service to the building from 60 amps to 200 amps, which is a big difference. It will allow for more power into the tenants’ units, and possibly the [construction of] a fourth unit […] into the basement. [This] would allow us to bring more units into our portfolio, which would be our dream and our biggest goal. [...] [To prepare for this,] I’m trying to think about where the systems will go — where they are located — so that if in the future we decide to add [another unit], we can. [...] We could have delayed the work a little more, [to pursue the addition of a fourth unit], but we would rather have the tenants that are there be comfortable, and be better off sooner rather than later. And then we’re going to figure out how to make that next unit. So that’s the thought. Hopefully we can do it.
Why is 14 Leroy Street a good place to do the energy retrofit project?
It is a good place because [it’s] a very old building that needs it. […] Our electric service is very old — we needed a new electrical service. The interior of the units and the exterior of the building need some work as well. Through the process of the blower door test, [we learned that] the amount of air that we’re loosing — that’s blowing out — is great, it’s a lot. So to make it better, the retrofit is a great way, because you do have to improve the envelope to make the retrofit work. So that is one of the best ideas. We couldn’t find insulation on the roof rafters, [and] we’re not sure if there’s any in the walls. We have so many different things that could change in that building. We don’t even have laundry service for [the tenants], because there’s not enough power coming into the building to provide a laundry service. Their boilers are very old, their baseboards are more than past their life cycle. So it’s a good building to start with. [The other buildings BNCLT recently acquired] are in pretty good shape. [...] Our oldest and most in-need building was basically 14 Leroy. That’s why we chose that one.
[...] So, I think that, what the City is trying to do with this retrofit program — because what we’re doing is a pilot, its not even a retrofit, it’s a pilot. We are trying to figure out it works — if the $25,000 that they’ve given us work. And it’s such a minute amount of money, because there’s so many issues in these buildings [...] The concern is [...] we want to do an energy retrofit, get rid of the gas, and make it carbon neutral — but we can’t do that for our low income tenants, because if I don’t insulate the building, [etc.], their utility bill is going to be three times the amount, paying the electricity than what they pay now for gas. So it’s a very difficult project. [...] The retrofit is done for the greater good of the world, but it [needs to be affordable, and that requires sufficient funds to achieve].