The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) is meteringenergy use in a Habitat for Humanity housingdevelopment. The objective is to understand the wayin which energy is used in low income housing andhow it can be effectively reduced.The ten homes come from a conventional housingproject built by in 1993 Habitat for Humanity inHomestead, Florida. The instrumentation was installedin the homes in July of 1994 with over threeyears of 15-minute data collected on all sites. Datawere obtained on seven electrical end-uses (air conditioning,heating, hot water, dryer, range, refrigerator,washer/freezer) as well as total. Weather conditionswere also monitored as well as interior comfortconditions (temperature and humidity) and hot waterconsumption and window ventilation status. Baselinefield data from a year of monitoring from the tenhomes allowed unique insight into how energy isused in low income housing and suggested whereconsumption might be reduced.In April of 1997, a series of detailed retrofitswere applied to eight of the ten Habitat homes. Theseincluded solar water heaters installed in seven homes.In eight homes we retrofit light features to compactfluorescent types, repaired and sealed duct air distributionsystems, cleaned refrigerator coils and installedlow-flow showerheads. Since each of he associatedenergy end-uses (including hot water consumption)is metered, we are able to assess the relativeperformance of each of the retrofits. We alsomeasured of air conditioner performance and housetightness. These audits revealed numerous problems,but low-evaporator coil air flow was discovered in allhomes. The paper describes the retrofit installation,audit data collected and the impact on measuredenergy consumption. Preliminary economics areexplored.
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