Transitional housing in Duluth benefits from energy efficiency upgrades

“Vita Nova hired Ecolibrium3 to complete a home energy assessment for our triplex in Observation Hill. The triplex is a transitional housing facility for men with felony backgrounds. It was built in 1906 and has had very high utility bills. It is also drafty with hot and cold areas of the house. The assessment detailed areas where there was air infiltration, including around doors and windows, almost every area where a pipe or cable passed through the exterior walls, and at rim joists. We retained Boreal Development to complete many of the recommendations included in the assessment. Their construction trainees replaced a rotted and leaking basement door, installed a new storm door, replaced two basement windows, used spray foam insulation around rim joists and other areas of air leakage, and caulked windows.”

“This project is projected to save hundreds of dollars in utility costs annually, allowing Vita Nova to dedicate more funds to housing and programming for the individuals served, who are transitioning back to community after incarceration. It also provided a learning and hands-on training opportunity for participants of Boreal Development’s construction training program.”

Katherine Mueller: “This was a great practice project for Boreal Development. Each participant could try out different skills, there was space for them all to work, and we recommend to others who might want to replicate it that Boreal Development did quality work. They also had resources to dedicate to the project from their budget for supplies for hands-on practice, so they paid for some of the weatherization supplies.

“We will replicate this project ourselves for future facilities. We also learned that we can save a great deal from these upgrades. We are hopeful to implement some of the more expensive recommendations, such as upgrading our heating equipment, but we do not have the funds to do so at this time.”

Katherine Mueller: “We are going to have our boiler assessed by an HVAC contractor this summer to determine if the recommendations in the weatherization report are accurate and determine if replacement is financially feasible. We intend to install solar in the future, but we expect that this is 2-5 years in the future.

“This was a great opportunity for Vita Nova to save funds on utilities, which have been so expensive for this building. It was also great to see the Boreal participants learn this work and engage with it.”

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