Erik Johnson
In 2024, Colorado leaders are preparing to take urgent action to increase supplies of affordable housing while also achieving the pollution cuts required to meet our climate goals. With the right policies, we can help solve both challenges and build energy-efficient, all-electric affordable housing that is safe, healthy, pollution-free, more comfortable and provides lower energy bills for tenants.
Yet, a new proposed plan by the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) risks sending us in the wrong direction on energy efficiency, affordable housing and climate — at exactly the wrong moment.
Colorado shattered hundreds of heat records in 2023, and experts are predicting 2024 may be even hotter globally due in part to the mounting effects of fossil fuel pollution in the atmosphere. Homes are our first line of defense from climate impacts like extreme heat, as well as from cold snaps, wildfire smoke and other sources of air pollution. Measures that improve homes’ energy efficiency — like installing better insulation, windows and doors, and using the most efficient appliances — are proven ways to protect Coloradans’ health and safety from extreme heat, cold and wildfire smoke infiltration, while also saving hundreds of dollars annually on energy costs.
But homes are also a major source of Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions because of the methane gas equipment used for heating, hot water and cooking. Buildings are the third-largest source of climate pollution in Colorado — even larger than oil and gas drilling and coal mining. Methane gas appliances like stoves and furnaces also emit indoor and outdoor air pollution, contributing to the worsening air pollution crisis in Denver and other Front Range communities. Clean energy alternatives like heat pumps and electric cooktops eliminate greenhouse gas emissions while protecting the air in Coloradans’ homes and neighborhoods.
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At the end of this month, the Colorado Energy Office will publish an updated roadmap to guide policies and funding programs to tackle climate pollution statewide, and one portion of this plan addresses affordable housing. Unfortunately its provisions are sorely lacking. The draft proposal fails to improve the energy efficiency of affordable housing and bring Colorado closer to meeting its climate goals. One key way to improve this plan is to seize the opportunity to recommend all affordable housing projects meet a robust energy code when they’re constructed.
Approximately two-thirds of Colorado jurisdictions have a version of a 2021 energy code in place — but in the remaining one-third, codes can be badly outdated or nonexistent. Building and energy codes help ensure quality construction, which is especially important with affordable housing in an era of worsening climate impacts. Lower-income Coloradans and communities of color also already face significant health burdens because of air pollution in their neighborhoods.
The CEO’s proposal doesn’t fully embrace the widespread benefits of heat pumps, heat-pump water heaters, electric cooktops, and other clean-energy technologies. It suggests new affordable housing be built “electric ready,” which would enable future electrification but doesn’t achieve any climate pollution reductions until a major renovation is done years into the future. For most multi-family affordable housing, this is 15 years after they’re built.
We can do better. As a construction consultant on affordable-housing projects in Boulder, I have worked on five recent and current projects totaling almost 400 units of energy-efficient all-electric housing. This is now the standard practice for affordable housing developers I work with in Colorado — we no longer consider methane gas hookups for apartment construction. Clean-energy technologies like heat pumps are readily available off-the-shelf without any special ordering or delays. The suppliers and installers we work with have good access and familiarity for installing this equipment.
All-electric construction is simpler and easier without having to install gas piping out of the street, throughout the site and into the buildings. This is a major cost savings. Last year, Denver approved making all new commercial and multi-family buildings all-electric citywide, and their cost analysis found building this way is cheaper than with gas, thanks in part to the avoided cost of installing gas piping. We also avoid complications and air-quality concerns from furnace flues, combustion air, and furnace rooms. More recent studies in Colorado have found all-electric is the less costly way to construct larger buildings like apartment complexes.
This research was conducted prior to the introduction of two major state and federal incentive programs. In 2024, Colorado is offering an incentive that covers 10% of the purchase price for both heat pumps and heat pump water heaters. Within its service area in Colorado, Xcel Energy is also offering a heat pump rebate program that can be stacked on other incentives.
In Colorado, improving the energy efficiency of multi-family housing up to the 2021 energy code adds between $1,500 to $2,600 in cost per unit, compared with the cost of the 2018 code. But the federal Inflation Reduction Act is providing an incentive between $500 to $5,000 per unit, depending on the level of efficiency and other standards. Federal housing agencies have issued a ruling stating meeting the 2021 energy code will not harm the availability and affordability of multi-family affordable housing projects. At our Boulder area housing projects the entire team — developers, financial sources, architects, engineers, and contractors — supports and participates in producing energy-efficient housing that is beneficial to our working residents and also contributes to climate solutions. We also incorporate roof-top solar renewable energy and electric-vehicle charging stations in our developments. This allows folks from all income levels to participate in climate solutions and the energy transition.
There is simply no economic barrier to building better affordable housing in Colorado, and the benefits are significant. Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings drop. Residents benefit from lower energy bills and healthy, pollution-free living spaces resilient to extreme heat and cold, intense storms and more. All of us benefit from cleaner air in our communities. The Colorado Energy Office must revise its new plan to prioritize energy-efficient, all-electric affordable housing.
Erik Johnson is a construction and energy-efficiency consultant who has helped build numerous all-electric affordable housing units in Boulder.