Results and Metrics
Funded by the U.S Department of Energy as part of the Renew America’s Nonprofits Program, the $3.9M Alaska Heat Smart (AHS) NORTHH program will allow AHS and partners, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory-Alaska (NREL) and Information Insights (ii), to assist with improving energy efficiency and reducing annual operating costs of 20 to 30 nonprofit buildings in Alaska serving lower to middle income and disadvantaged populations in the health and housing sectors. NORTHH will prioritize non-profit owned buildings that represent a diversity of Alaska disadvantaged communities and geographic regions. NORTHH will support the nonprofits with an energy audit, construction management, up to $150,000 in retrofit funds, as well as staff training, workforce development, and gaining a deeper understanding of their building and its energy systems.
This page will track various program metrics over the life of the program, such as applications received, aggregated enrollment, number of audits completed, number of subrecipients in and finished with construction phase, initial energy savings using Energy Star Portfolio Manager, energy savings using data aggregated in SEED, as well as qualitative results. Other metrics that may be addressed include subrecipient nonprofit return on investment, non-energy benefits such as occupant comfort, reduced maintenance, and increased services, and resources for nonprofits embarking on a building upgrade project.
Program Applicants and Retrofit Progress
Graph 1 – NORTHH Recipient Progress: The graph below shows how selected nonprofit buildings are moving through the NORTHH program. A state-wide selection committee chose nonprofit buildings for audits and retrofit work after a nearly year-long recruitment period. DOE has approved most of our selection committee’s building selections and commercial audits are now underway. The audit, and the nonprofit’s intent, will together inform the drafting of a scope of work for each building. These scopes will also need DOE approval before moving to the most exciting phase – receiving energy efficiency retrofits and reducing annual energy costs!
Graph 2 – Total Energy Costs and Average Site EUI: Two building metrics our team are tracking are energy use per square foot, commonly called the ‘energy use intensity’ (EUI), and the energy cost to heat each building over a year. While 31 buildings have been selected for audits, there is NORTHH funding for approximately 27 to move forward with actual energy upgrades. The graph below shows the site EUI and costs for those buildings for 2022 thru 2024 which are being considered baseline years – years before any upgrades have happened. The site EUI represents the average of the buildings while the costs are the sum for all buildings that reported cost information.
This graph below shows in gradually increasing cost per year, not surprising information given the slow and steady rise in the cost of both heating oil and natural gas, two fuels knows for their fairly dynamic price fluctuations.
