Community Housing Partners took home top honors for the second year in a row at the Virginia Energy Efficiency Leadership Awards in the Low-Income category for a deep-energy retrofit at Sun Valley and The Landings near Radford, Virginia.
The Virginia Energy Efficiency Council honored the winners of its second annual Virginia Energy Efficiency Leadership Awards at a reception in Richmond on Nov. 2 attended by more than 125 participants in the VAEEC fall meeting.
Mark Jackson and Bill Beachy, Vice Presidents of CHP Energy Solutions, accepted the award on CHP’s behalf.
VAEEC received more than 45 nominations for the six awards, which showcase how energy efficiency champions across the Commonwealth are helping businesses, schools, government, and homeowners save money on energy expenditures while reducing energy consumption — all while stimulating job growth and the economy.
“The winning entries are proof that energy efficiency has tremendous potential to drive economic growth, create jobs, shrink utility bills, conserve natural resources and reduce pollution,” said Chelsea Harnish, VAEEC Executive Director.
“The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy just named Virginia one of three ‘Most Improved States’ in its 2017 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, and these winners reflect the type of innovative, forward-thinking projects that will keep that momentum going in the Commonwealth,” she said.
The ACEEE report and these awards follow on the heels of VAEEC’s recent report highlighting energy efficiency as a $1.5 billion industry in Virginia that supports 75,000 jobs.
CHP recently acquired Sun Valley and The Landings, nearly identical income-qualifying properties consisting of 21 duplexes.
In mid-2017, at the request of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to explore opportunities for applying federally-funded Weatherization Assistance Program toward more multi-family properties in Virginia, CHP pooled resources to conduct a deep-energy retrofit on the properties.
In addition to Weatherization Assistance Program funds, funds were leveraged from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Appalachian Power Company’s Low-Income Weatherization Program, CHP Energy Solutions Emergency Home and Accessibility Repair Program, as well as an owner-contribution from CHP.
“Our work impacted nearly all building systems and components, including LED lighting, low-flow fixtures, water heater tank and hot water pipe insulation, making the building envelope more airtight, installing floor and attic insulation, and replacing the baseboard heating with a heat pump and air-sealed duct work,” said Jackson, who is also a member of VAEEC’s board.
“The Department of Energy’s National Energy Audit Tool estimates an average 73 percent annual heating low reduction for each unit or annual utility bill savings of up to $850 per household,” he said.
Jackson added that CHP’s experience at Sun Valley and The Landings will help streamline future projects leveraging multiple funding sources.
CHP was honored along with five other first-place winners including Gov. Terry McAuliffe who received the first-ever Award of Excellence for his leadership on energy efficiency during his tenure as governor. For more information about CHP, visit www.communityhousingpartners.org, and VAEEC vaecc.org.