Arlington plans to develop a new tool to encourage energy-efficiency upgrades among disadvantaged communities.
The Arlington County Board last week approved a $980,350 grant award from the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Grant Program at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With the money, the county plans to build a tool to model green improvements in building types common to low-income disadvantaged communities (LIDACs).
“The core objective of the EHE Project is to facilitate and expand opportunities for residential and commercial buildings’ energy-performance upgrades,” a county report says. “These upgrades are modeled and tailored to the vintage, design, composition, construction, and use of the building inventory types that dominate LIDAC areas.”
The open-access technology will “model energy efficiency upgrades among these building categories for highest efficiency and cost savings.” It will also consider air quality patterns and model for public health impacts of improvements within indoor environments.
The Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy plans to collaborate on the project with George Mason University’s Virginia Climate Center, the Columbia Pike Partnership, the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance and Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action.
The county has a three-year window starting in Fiscal Year 2025 to carry out the initiative, which does not require any local match in funding.
