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"Perhaps the most appealing
feature for the fortunate families living in these duplexes is
the savings of between 30 percent and 50 percent on energy bills
that come about from building to UI's Good Cents standards,"
says George W. Edwards Jr., UI chairman and chief executive officer.
"A lot of utilities in the
Good Cents program have built houses before, but not the way
we put this thing together in Hamden. We formed a partnership
for affordable housing and to the best of our knowledge it is
the first time this has been done in this country," says
Jack DiBiaso, director of conservation services.
The Hamden Good Cents Housing
Partnership was brought together by UI and required the cooperation
of several key players. The town of Hamden donated the land for
the site of the homes, the Hamden Housing Authority owns and
manages the units and the Connecticut Department of Housing helped
finance the project. The state Department of Education granted
permission for students from Eli Whitney Regional Vocational
Technical School to construct the homes as part of their curriculum.
Four families began living in
the four affordable housing units in Hamden last year. Each of
the units was built through a partnership among United Illuminating
Co., local and state government agencies, a state vocational-technical
school and a local home builders association.
The two duplexes are important
for a couple of reasons. First, they fill a need for affordable,
yet comfortable housing in the Greater New Haven area, local
officials say. The 1,000-square-foot homes include two bedrooms,
a living room, kitchen, one-and-a-half baths, a full unfinished
basement and a deck. In addition, the homes also were built to
UI's Good Cents energy efficiency standards, hence the project's
name of Hamden Good Cents Housing Partnership.
The units are affordable-rent
is about $300 a month, less than half the market rate, according
to Hazelann Cook, director of the Hamden Housing Authority-and
filled with energy efficient features that adhere to UI's stringent
Good Cents energy efficiency standards.
"Perhaps the most appealing
feature for the fortunate families living in these duplexes is
the savings of between 30 percent and 50 percent on energy bills
that come about from building to UI's Good Cents standards,"
says George W. Edwards Jr., UI chairman and chief executive officer.
"A lot of utilities in the
Good Cents program have built houses before, but not the way
we put this thing together in Hamden. We formed a partnership
for affordable housing and to the best of our knowledge it is
the first time this has been done in this country," says
Jack DiBiaso, director of conservation services.
The Hamden Good Cents Housing
Partnership was brought together by UI and required the cooperation
of several key players. The town of Hamden donated the land for
the site of the homes, the Hamden Housing Authority owns and
manages the units and the Connecticut Department of Housing helped
finance the project. The state Department of Education granted
permission for students from Eli Whitney Regional Vocational
Technical School to construct the homes as part of their curriculum.
The New Haven County Home Builders
Association and the Connecticut Heating and Cooling Contractors
Association provided technical support, as well as donated labor
and materials to the project. UI served as the project manager
and purchased all building materials to ensure all aspects of
construction met the energy efficient standards of its
Good Cents energy management program.
"I'm really proud that we
got four units there, very attractive, high-efficient housing
units," said DiBiaso. The Good Cents specifications include
double-paned windows, specially insulated doors, highly-insulated
walls and ceilings, compact fluorescent lighting and high-efficiency
appliances.
Model of Efficiency
Among the key energy efficiency
features are a heat pump with a SEER rating of 11.3 and HSPF
of 7.8, both of which exceed UI's Good Cents standards, installed
in two units. Heat pumps with a SEER rating of 10 and a HSPF
of 6.85, both of which meet Good Cents standards, were installed
in the other two units. The efficiency of both heat pumps is
rated at 200 percent.
Both homes have 12 inches of
insulation in the ceiling for a rating of R38. Baffles were installed
to ensure unobstructed soffit vents. Special trusses, which elevate
the rafters and allow insulation to extend over the top of exterior
wall top plates, provide adequate attic ventilation. The floors
have six inches of insulation for an R-19 rating.
The exterior walls were built
with six inches of batt insulation using 2 x 6 framing, plus one-half inch
of insulation board for a rating of R-26. The band joists between
floors were also built with six inches of insulation. The interior
walls also feature four mill poly sheet which acts as a vapor
barrier.
The low-E windows are double-glazed
and have a high-performance glass with thermal breaks. The exterior
doors are constructed of metal with urethane core thermal break
and gasketed weather stripping. The patio door is double glazed
with thermal break.
The kitchen and baths in both
homes have outside vented exhaust fans with back draft dampers.
Attic space above the ceiling is vented by a combination of continuous
ridge and soffit vents.
A house wrap was installed at
both homes. All exterior joints around windows, frames and corners
were completely caulked, gasketed and weather stripped.
These energy efficiency features
are expected to result in a a winter heating bill of about $340,
or about half of the amount paid at a comparable home not meeting
UI's Good Cents energy efficiency standards, according to UI
officials.
Welcome Addition
Construction of affordable and
energy efficent housing is a welcome sight in Hamden. Low-income
homeowners and tenants in the UI territory often face energy
costs that represent an increasingly disproportionate share
(approximately one-third) of
their household budgets. Of the 700,000 persons in UI's service
area, nearly one-third have incomes below 200 percent of the
federal poverty level.
The familes living in the four
affordable housing units are not the only ones who benefited
from the Hamden Good Cents Housing Partnership. The students
at Eli Whitney Regional Vocational Technical School profited
by applying classroom knowledge of construction to on-site training
in Ham-den. When construction of the first home began in the
summer of 1989, crews of between 14 and 30 students from Eli
Whitney worked for five hours a day four days a week. Approximately
70 students participated in the program.
"The kids did an excellent
job," raves Cook. "This taught the students how to
build energy efficient homes."
The effort involved in making
the Hamden Good Cents Housing Partnership a success has not gone
unnoticed. The project was recognized earlier this year by receiving
the National Home Builders' Association's President's Award.
The project was selected based on creativity, innovative design,
construction costs and the final sale/leasing price.
"We had to cut through tons
of red tape here" to get the project completed, DiBiaso
says. "We're pretty proud of what we were able to accomplish
with this."
He says there are plans to build
more affordable, energy efficient housing in a different town
with the help of students at another vocational-technical school.
"We're keeping this going,"
he says. "We're building single-family homes, which will
then be made available at below market rate to families that
normally couldn't afford a home."
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