Elyton Village Energiesprong | Birmingham Housing Authority | Birmingham, AL
This proposal for deep energy retrofit of the Elyton Village housing project in Birmingham Alabama is modeled on the Energiesprong paradigm, which was introduced in the Netherlands in 2010 and has renovated thousands of units of social housing in Europe to net zero energy. Although most existing research on how to apply the approach in the United States has focused on cold climates in the northeast, there are several reasons why it might be applicable in the warm/humid climate of the southeast. Firstly, according to research by the Rocky Mountain Institute, extremely low-income (ELI) residents in Alabama face the highest “energy burden” in the entire country, paying an average of 23% of their income toward energy bills. Furthermore, public housing developments in Alabama like Elyton Village follow a similar typology to that found in northern Europe: 2-story uninsulated brick row-housing.
The proposed retrofit of Elyton Village includes: 1. New overclad insulated facade and roof panels with integrated high-performance windows; 2. New porches with integrated planters, mailboxes, and mechanical closets; 3. A 32kW roof-mounted photovoltaic array; 4. New mechanical systems pods for heating, cooling, hot water, ventilation, and humidity control. The combination of these elements would eliminate all energy bills for residents of Elyton Village, achieving net zero energy. In addition to reducing the operational carbon emissions, this proposal also endeavors to reduce the embodied carbon of deep energy retrofits by employing locally-sourced, carbon sequestering timber construction materials. The project explores how Alabama’s plentiful forestry resources could be utilized in the prefabrication of thin-ply CLT overclad roof and facade panels insulated with wood fiber, instead of the petroleum-based insulation and cladding materials (e.g. EIFS) that are specified in many retrofit projects. This focused case study is intended to test a set of tactics which could be applied to public housing throughout Alabama and the southeast more broadly, much of which is in urgent need of repair and renovation to improve thermal comfort and indoor air quality for residents, enhance energy efficiency, and reverse negative stigma associated with government housing projects.
Existing Conditions
Project Data:
Client: None (Speculative Proposal)
Status: Concept Design Only
Program: Public Housing
Team: David Shanks, Jake Elbrecht (CLT insulated panel research), Patrick Fair (physical model)