News
CHA's Green Assessment
January 12, 2011
| t's the nation's largest survey of affordable housing for environmental friendliness: the Chicago Housing Authority has teamed up with HOK to evaluate more than 580 buildings on 62 different sites. | |
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| The study, which ends in February, and could save up to 15% onheating energy costs, will determine what can be done to each building to bring it up to LEED-EBOM standards. We stopped by the CNA building where both HOK (the prime on the project) and the CHA have offices to chat about the seven-month project. CHA's energy managers David Anderson and Edie Cruz and HOK's sustainable design leader Colin Rohlfing say the survey was funded partially by a $66M HUD grant to restore boilers and heating systems. They agreed as part of the grant to do the survey, which included an evaluation form for property managers and resident surveys to see what they thought of potential new green measures like sustainable cleaning and maintenance practices. | |
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| Helping out with the project was HOK's sustainble design team Isilay Civan, Brian Dolan, and Susan Heinking. Siemens assisted in the energy evaluation, Environmental Systems Design on the engineering front, and TAG International on property management. The CHA is already close to meeting the year 2030 emissions reduction goal established in the Chicago Climate Action Plan, which calls for city agencies and private partners to reduce energy use by 60% compared to 1990 use levels. Even once the study ends, 22 residents (trained to be LEED-GA accredited by TAG) will help put energy conservation measures in place. These include installation of low-flow shower heads and sink aerators in all of the development properties, which could save an additional 30% of water use, leading to a 10% to 15% energy savings from hot water heating. |
