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Kudos to our partner, City of Bridges Community Land Trust, for envisioning and completing an ambitious, all-electric home renovation in Fineview! The home features enhanced building insulation and low air leakage of 5.5 ACH@50. Its ducted multizone Bryant heat pump is correctly sized and should provide ample heating for the home. Our HVAC evaluation shows […]

Energy Efficiency Empowerment (E3) audited an already completed project by the Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation (PHDC) and immediately admired this beautifully finished 1,174 sq. ft. Beltzhoover home, powered by a 3-ton Mitsubishi heat pump. However, the measured air leakage (21 ACH@50) indicated room for improvement. The basement rim joists have since been air sealed. Using

Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation invited E3 to take a look at Eldora Place renovation just as the rough-ins were being installed. We identified multiple areas where careful execution of air sealing and insulation could significantly improve the efficiency of the building envelope. We were exceptionally happy to see the results pictured in the gallery below.

The Ashton Ave home, a project by the City of Bridges Community Land Trust, was slated to undergo a moderate-scale remodel with funding provided by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. This home already has a 95.5% efficient furnace, a relatively new hot water heater, and an R-11 level of insulation in the attic. E3 proposed several

The Henger St. project marks E3’s first collaboration with our new partner, Hilltop Alliance. This vacant, overgrown home required significant attention! What a transformational change for both this home and the small street near Hilltop Farm. E3 provided energy auditing, specifications modifications, quality assurance, and funding to help improve the Home Energy Score from 3

Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and E3 collaborated to enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in the rehabilitation of this Chartiers Ave home. There is a lot to celebrate: the project achieved a remarkable reduction in air leakage, ending at 5.5 ACH@50 Pascals for a 2,219 sq. ft. conditioned area. This is the lowest air leakage

The Buena Vista St home is a small, 800 sq. ft. house built in 1946. While the energy efficiency improvements to this home may appear modest—adding wall insulation, air sealing rim joists, and upgrading windows—the heating system solution is truly noteworthy. A 45,000 BTU/h, 96% efficient single-stage Armstrong furnace is paired with an efficient variable

Energy Efficiency Empowerment’s fifth completed project was carried out in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Housing Development Corporation. Our work began only after the original general contractor had finished, but as we know, not all construction projects go smoothly, and there was still some finishing and “cleanup” to be done. We successfully reduced air leakage by

This Stokes Ave home was likely the most porous brick house we have ever encountered. Its walls were so deteriorated that our partner, Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, had to build cheek walls and fill the structure with concrete to stabilize them. As part of the repair process, the walls were sealed with a layer of closed-cell

E3 was invited to take a look at another Eldora Place renovation just as the rough-ins were being installed. We identified multiple areas where careful execution of air sealing and insulation could significantly improve the efficiency of the building envelope. One of the tools at our disposal is blower-door-guided air sealing, and we hope to

The Trowbridge Street renovation by City of Bridges Community Land Trust did not originally include plans to add wall insulation. This unfortunately is common when walls are left closed—it’s cheaper and easier to keep them as they are. But even with the challenges of plaster and lath, and the need to repair each hole made

We are excited to contribute to this ambitious project by the City of Bridges Land Trust. This partner has planned to install both a heat pump water heater and a ductless heat pump for the finished attic. E3 proposed adding interior wall insulation to this double-brick home. Framed walls also facilitate new whole-house electrical rewiring,

Park Hill is a 167-townhouse complex in East Hills, on the Pittsburgh side of the city’s border with Penn Hills. “This was supposed to be an affordable housing community, mixed income, of homeowners, “said contractor Steve Catranel, whose father helped to develop and build Park Hill in the 1960s. But many early homeowners moved out

Predictive power of Home Energy Score (HES) methodology was first deployed in 2022 in a project between Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and Tri-COG Land Bank, who jointly committed to achieving high energy efficiency in a vacant home renovation in Braddock.  The initial pre-construction energy audit of this 2 BR home showed the predicted Energy Use Intensity