is the effect it will have on low income communities. Those are the places that are most likely to have drafty windows, insufficient insulation, out of date heating and cooling systems, and doors that don’t close tightly. Some of them still have a 40 amp fuse box down in the basement instead of a breaker panel. Sol Systems and Google are joining up to create a program that will make more renewable energy available to those communities.
The problem, she said, is that many of the people who could benefit most from those savings can’t participate in traditional energy efficiency assistance programs because their homes have other problems that need to be fixed before efficiency upgrades can be made. Those can include leaky roofs, damaged floors, excessive moisture buildup, mold, faulty electrical wiring, and other circumstances that can render homes ineligible to receive federal weatherization assistance.
“We’re in a hot, humid environment, we’re running air conditioners constantly during the summer, and we have a lot of older building stock,” with most homes at least four decades old. “A lot of these homes have structural problems — leaky roof; floors or walls that need to be repaired; plumbing problems.”