Energy-efficient housing stimulus that pays for itself

Abstract

This paper describes an energy efficient housing stimulus strategy that can: (1) quickly provide large-scale job creation; (2) reduce home energy bills by 30% to 50% with associated reductions in emissions and energy assistance spending; (3) stabilize home values and reduce foreclosure inventory; (4) help to eliminate childhood lead poisoning; and (5) implement regulatory reforms that highlight market incentives for cost effective energy efficiency and alternative home energy investments. These benefits, far in excess of costs, can be achieved by combining "lead-safe window replacement" with other weatherization activities and simple regulatory and market reforms. This strategy can help to coordinate American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for energy efficiency, the $75 billion Making Home Affordable plan to reduce foreclosures, and the recently announced partnership between the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to streamline weatherization efforts and spur job creation. Energy Efficient Housing Stimulus that Pays for ItselfPresident Obama has charged his economic team with finding "areas where we can get a twofer, where we're getting both a short-term stimulus and we're also laying the groundwork for long-term economic growth." (CQ Transcriptswire, 2008) This paper presents a strategy that can yield a fiver: (1) provide large-scale job creation; (2) reduce home energy bills by 30% to 50% with associated reductions in emissions and federal spending for energy assistance; (3) stabilize home values and reduce the foreclosure inventory; (4) help to eliminate childhood lead poisoning; and (5) implement regulatory reforms that highlight market incentives for cost effective energy efficiency and alternative energy investments. These benefits, far in excess of costs, can be achieved by combining "lead-safe window replacement" with other weatherization activities and simple regulatory and market reforms. This strategy can provide a critical connection between American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for energy efficiency, the $75 billion Making Home Affordable plan to reduce foreclosures, and the recently announced partnership between the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to streamline weatherization efforts and spur job creation. Large-Scale Job CreationWindow replacement is a labor intensive activity that can quickly create millions of jobs with window manufacturers and their suppliers and, importantly, for housing renovation workers, especially hard hit by the housing market decline. Secondary, economic multiplier effects would include increased demand for light trucks from workers employed by this initiative. The 2008 spike in gas prices has (belatedly) discouraged the use of light trucks in rush hour commutes, but Nevin -Energy Efficient Housing Stimulus that Pays for Itself -4/9/2009 -Page 2 of 30 the light truck market has also been hard hit by the decline in housing construction and renovation work, where trucks are essenti...

Energy poverty in the European Union: landscapes of vulnerability

“…Comparatively speaking, the majority of evidence about the underlying causes of energy poverty has been generated by studies undertaken in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Academic research on ‘fuel poverty’ produced in these two states has uncovered that this condition is brought about, in the main, by the interaction of low household incomes with thermally inefficient homes . It has been underlined that the residents of inefficient dwellings are forced to purchase less affordable energy services than the rest of the population because such homes are more expensive to heat.…”

Perceptions of Thermal Comfort and Housing Quality: Exploring the Microgeographies of Energy Poverty in Stakhanov, Ukraine

“…Academic research on fuel poverty in these two countries has highlighted, inter alia, its intersections with low incomes (Milne and Boardman, 2000), built form, and inefficient homes (Nevin, 2010;Wright, 2008), housing tenure (Hong et al, 2009), heating systems (Walker, 2008), and sociodemographic circumstances such as household size, gender, class, or education (Critchley et al, 2007;Wright, 2004). Authors working in this vein have emphasized the above-average rates of energy and fuel poverty among older people (Ekamper et al, 2009), families with children (Liddell and Morris, 2010), and households with disabilities, long-term illness, or infirmity (Cheshire, 2009).…”

Identifying Perceived Barriers and Benefits to Reducing Energy Consumption in an Affordable Housing Complex

“…When compared to middle-income households, low-income households spend 5–15% more of their monthly income on home energy expenses. This higher percentage is, in part, influenced by the tendency of low-income housing to be older and less energy efficient than the housing of middle- or upper-income households (Nevin, 2010). Government programs, such as the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, have been developed to provide incentives to improve the energy efficiency of residences and to quell the increase in energy consumption at the residential level.…”