Renew America Success Stories

Multifamily Energy Savings Program

Description

The Multifamily Energy Savings Program is a project of the City of Portland's Energy Office that provides comprehensive assistance to multifamily property owners and managers to improve the resource efficiency of their properties.

The program acts as a broker to connect property owners with resource efficiency programs and incentives offered by the city's businesses and agencies, such as those offered by the local electric and gas utilities, the city's solid waste and water bureaus and the Oregon Department of Energy. As such, the program serves as a "one-stop shop" for owners to maximize existing incentives available to multifamily properties.

Owners are encouraged to incorporate several efficiency measures simultaneously. For example, many owners enter the program to upgrade their windows and are then encouraged to adopt a "whole house" approach and install insulation, efficient lighting fixtures, water conservation measures and recycling containers.

In addition to its partnerships with local utilities, the program has teamed up with apartment owner trade associations, property management companies and local weatherization contractors, enabling the program to leverage resources for trade shows, direct mail campaigns, special projects and newsletters.

As a result of the program, Portland area apartment residents have more comfortable homes and lower utility bills, housing costs have been reduced, property values raised and neighborhoods made more livable. In part, the success of the program is due to the program's focus on demonstrating the property owners and managers that efficiency investments not only make sense for the environment, but they make sense for the bottom line.

Program Highlights

The Multifamily Energy Savings Program connects property owners and managers with programs that offer:

• Free energy audits
• Cash rebates
• 50% for oil heated buildings
• 25% of cost effective project cost for all gas or electrically heated buildings
• Tax credits
• 35% Business Energy Tax Credit taken over five years or;
• 28.87% cash in lieu of the 5-year tax credit
• Low-interest loans for investments in efficiency measures
• All fuels: Oregon Department of Energy's Small Scale Energy Loan Program (SELP), fixed rate, 10-year loan
• Oil: Oregon Department of Energy loan, 6 1/2%, 10-year loan
• Gas and Electric: Utility loans, 6 1/2% to 12 1/2%, up to 10 years

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Multifamily Energy Savings Program is a project of the City of Portland Energy Office, which has entered into partnerships with the Portland Water Bureau, the Bureau of Environmental Sciences, Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, the Oregon State Home Oil Weatherization Program, the Metro Multifamily Housing Association, the Oregon Apartment Association and the Multifamily Housing Council of Oregon.

Budget: $836,400 total project cost.

Community Served: The 48% of Portland residents, many of whom are low-income, who live in rental units.

Measures of Success:

The program results in savings of 9.2 BTU's (British thermal unit) and $162,500 annually.

More than 14,000 apartment units have been weatherized and more than 46,000 units have participated in recycling through the program.

Thousands of apartment units have installed efficient lighting, shower heads, faucet aerators, toilet tank devices and high efficiency water heaters.

In 1992, an evaluation of energy savings found average annual space heating savings of 26%.

In 1991, an evaluation of the recycling program found that more than 80% of the residents participated in recycling and that 1/3 of garbage (measured by weight) was diverted from landfills as recyclable materials.

The program has created approximately 55 jobs.

It is estimated that the recyclables collected from an average Portland multifamily unit in one year save enough energy to provide lighting to an apartment for six months.

The program was selected as Vendor of the Year by the Multifamily Housing Council of Oregon.

Success stories designed by Mark Nowak

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