Home Retrofit Education Programs for Low-Income Communities

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone ProjectEnergy efficient homes are key for a sustainable future in any city. However, the lack of knowledge about the subject restricts many households to do their part in the movement. This research focuses on programs available to low-income households, to perform home weatherization retrofits and to learn about the subject as well. Implementing and focusing on the learning portion of home weatherization and energy efficiency to homeowners increases social equity and reduces energy usage in a home over time. Three programs are analyzed to extract the benefits and drawbacks of each. Each program’s goal varies but are all aimed to help low-income communities. Homeownership education, hands-on home weatherization, and home construction are the focuses of each program. The final recommendation for each program is to increase advertisement and focus their outreach on specific sections of the city of Tucson which can benefit the most from their services.This item is part of the Sustainable Built Environments collection. For more information, contact http://sbe.arizona.edu