Assessing and retrofitting 441 housing units in Vancouver

The Bloom Group, a non-profit organization based in the downtown Eastside of Vancouver, will complete a suite of energy assessments for a portfolio of six buildings totalling 441 housing units, performed through FortisBC and BC Hydro’s Social Housing Retrofit Support Program (SHRSP) . These assessments will go beyond the typical scope of the SHSRP by further investigating the following: · contractor pricing estimates for various energy conservation measures; · assessment of building envelope characteristics; · electrical load analysis; and · suite-level energy assessments. The Bloom Group aims to reduce energy usage by at least 25% and assess the viability of re-incorporating older rooftop solar panels on one of the buildings into the overall system. Funding from FCM will help the group engage with the building communities, the British Columbia Non-Profit Housing Association, and Fisher Resource Efficiency Solutions Company (FRESCo). The investigation will quantify the existing greenhouse gas baselines and the energy- and utility-cost savings of the proposed energy-conservation measures. The next step will be to perform a study on the portfolio of buildings. The SHRSP will provide existing energy-consumption data and recommended energy-conservation measures, which will be used to augment the study’s analysis. The Bloom Group will pursue funding through the SHRSP, CleanBC’s Social Housing Incentive Program, and/or FCM, depending on which energy-conservation measures are selected. (Project description from original funding application)