Thanks to $550,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) awarded in February, a collaborative SyracuseCoE team will design and build up to six new energy-efficient “green” homes in Syracuse. CDH Energy leads the Home Performance Improvement Challenge (HomePIC). Additional members include the Building Performance Contractors Association, Camroden Associates, Northeast Green Building Consulting, and Syracuse University.
The HomePIC project team completed a similar NYSERDA sponsored project in 2007. The High Environmental Performance (HEP) house project developed a design for a new energy-efficient home built in Fayetteville, NY. The HomePIC project will extend the skills and experience deployed in the HEP house into the mainstream housing market. The goal of the HomePIC project is to work with builders that construct affordable homes of between 1,500 and 2,500 square feet and that are interested in achieving better energy performance from existing designs.
The NYSERDA grant will pay builders a $10,000 incentive to construct the first demonstration home of each design developed by the HomePIC team. In addition, SyracuseCoE has committed to provide up to $100,000 in incentives to build up to 10 new design homes in the Near West Side neighborhood. Design, construction, and performance data of completed homes will be available to builders and home buyers on the NYSERDA website.