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Username
Margo Valdés
Proposer First Name
Margo
Proposer Email
margo@greenrater.com
Proposer Last Name
Valdes
Proposer Company/Organization
Sustainable Comfort
Proposer Job Title
Director, Existing Buildings
Proposer Additional Info
Margo has been working as a Building Performance Consultant since 2008 specializing in energy efficient, durable construction across states in the Northeast US. In her role as Director of the Existing Buildings group at SCI she leads a team of energy auditors, energy modelers and field inspectors helping projects implement low carbon retrofits in occupied and unoccupied buildings. Under her leadership the Existing Buildings group at SCI has provided services to over 7,000 units ranging from small residential to multifamily high rise buildings.
Proposed Session Description
Two mid- to high- rise buildings in upstate NY owned by separate housing authorities are in process of completing all-electric rehabilitations using ground source heat pumps for space conditioning and water heating. The two teams are mostly different but the solutions are similar. Are we approaching a scalable solution for affordable mid/high rise multifamily housing? Hear from the Rome and Albany Housing Authority project teams on how the deals were structured, the tenant interactions, and the technical solutions being implemented to achieve safe, healthy, efficient low-carbon housing.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
Both of these buildings are owned by housing authorities and provide affordable housing. The tenant populations are diverse. The completed buildings will provide improved comfort and indoor air quality for all tenants. Affordable housing is disproportionately located near highways. Steamboat 20 is located feet from I-787 in Albany and half the building has been decommissioned since the 80s. Part of the goal for the rehabilitation is to provide improved indoor air quality by eliminating and exhaust only ventilation strategy and instead implementing ERVs with filtered supply air.
Learning Objectives
Identify funding paths used to successfully design and implement all-electric retrofits of affordable multifamily housing using ground source heat pumps.
Understand design challenges and solutions involved with ground source heat pump design and implementation in mid/high rise affordable multifamily housing
List the owner priorities of an affordable all-electric rehabilitation and learn how they were addressed by the owner and design teams
Explore the process of decision making involving multiple stakeholders when implementing design strategies that are well established but uncommon
Has this session been presented before?
No
Additional Comments
A similar session was presented at the NYSPHADA conference in October 2022, though the session focused on the Housing Authority process and the financing and was not technical.
Session Format
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Session Format Details
The session will be split into three parts to discuss the Steamboat 20 project owned by Albany Housing Authority, the Colonial I project owned by Rome Housing Authority and the geothermal design and implementation process at both properties with Q&A at the end.

Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023

Comments about your speaker roster
Margo will give an intro - I don't intend to speak for long as I'd prefer the audience to hear the owner, developer consultant and geothermal designer perspective to learn about feasibility and implementation rather than how they met their energy program requirements. Charlie Oster is the VP Real Estate Development for Edgemere Development. Edgemere's role on the Steamboat project is Developer Consultant. In this role they help owners structure affordable housing deals. Edgemere Development has decades of experience helping owners get affordable housing projects financed and completed and has been an excellent partner helping to make sure projects meet energy and sustainability requirements in a rapidly changing regulatory climate. Charlie has detailed knowledge to share on the financing structure of the Steamboat project. Maureen Birmingham is the Executive Director of the Rome Housing Authority where she has held almost every position. She has been highly involved with every step of the Colonial I project and has devoted time and resources to tenant relocation and education. She understands how to interface with tenants to help a project run smoothly and to gain tenant approval and cooperation - an increasingly needed skillset as occupied rehabs become more and more necessary. John Ciovacco is the President of Aztech Geothermal LLC and is the geothermal system designer for both Steamboat 20 and Colony I. John will provide information on the geothermal designs, the benefits of geothermal and why it can be a good fit for affordable housing owners and tenants.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about your session proposal?
Colonial I is currently under construction (see video at the bottom of this page: https://romehousingauthority.com/housing). Steamboat 20 is set to close financing and start construction in November 2022 and will be underway in early stages at the time of the BEBoston conference. Geothermal test bores have been drilled at Steamboat. An interesting aspect to these two projects is that they are both participating in different types of energy programs. Steamboat is classified as a moderate rehab and was the first project of its kind to be awarded the Clean Energy Initiative money through the funding agency HCR (Housing and Community Renewal). To verify compliance with the CEI, Steamboat will be participating in NYSERDA Multifamily Performance Program (a program for existing buildings) targeting 46% energy reduction compared to existing operation and will be complying with an adapted ENERGY STAR MFNC checklist requiring blower door and duct blaster testing. Colonial I is considered a substantial rehab and is pursuing the ENERGY STAR Multifamily High Rise program. This information could fit into the presentation somewhere, though I think the more interesting aspect of the project is the feasibility of geothermal as a solution for low carbon + efficiency + financial compatibility for affordable housing owners. I suspect there are some long term maintenance benefits that can be discussed as well (such as if the water source heat pump goes down in one apartment the rest of the building still has heat and can help keep that apartment tempered until the repair can be made). It is also significant that the domestic hot water will be provided by water source heat pumps off the ground loop. High efficiency DHW is a challenge in large multifamily due to limited technology availability, this is one way to do it.
Reviewer 1
Schow, Mark
Reviewer 2
Joseph, Michaelson
Proposal #
171
Committee Decision
Being Considered
Full Description
There are hundreds of mid to high rise affordable multifamily buildings across the Northeast and the country. Many of these buildings are currently heated with central gas boilers. To move towards all-electric solutions we need to find a scalable way of converting these buildings to efficient all-electric solutions. Ground Source heat pumps could be a scalable solution for a large percentage of these buildings.