Audit Scrutinizes DOC Program to Weatherize Low-Income Homes

A performance audit was released yesterday by State Auditor Brian Sonntag that evaluated the State Department of Commerce ( DOC) home-weatherization program. The goal of the audit was to evaluate the DOC’s process for making sure funds were spent appropriately at the local level.

The DOC run program received a major funding increase in 2009 through the federal economic stimulus act. The results of the audit were good and bad. 

The Good

• The projects - meant to reduce energy use in needy families' homes through new insulation, furnaces, energy-efficient windows etc. - ramped up in 2010, with contractors weatherizing more than 8,049 Washington housing units. The average in 2005-2008 had been about 3,300.
• Local agencies like Pierce County Community Services and the Metropolitan Development Council of Tacoma contract for the improvements, with oversight from the DOC.
• There were 329 housing units weatherized through the Tacoma nonprofit last year, more than triple any of the previous five years. Another 742 homes were weatherized by Pierce County.

The Bad

• The DOC did plenty of inspections but officials didn't consistently follow up to make sure agencies fixed problems.
• A September re-check that involved 47 homes where local agencies said problems were corrected, and found incomplete or shoddy work in nine of them.
• During one inspection a local agency was allowed to pick the project that state officials would inspect. The DOC said this instance was an anomaly because the employee of the agency refused to cooperate with DOC officials. The agency later fired the employee.

If you would like to see the entire audit please click here to download the PDF. 

Embodied Energy: How Should it Affect Design Standards?

The issue of embodied energy in building materials is heating up in the Washington Legislature.

Under current state laws, the design of new buildings must include an energy life cycle cost analysis. The ELCCA requires designers to run energy models to project the costs to operate a building over its lifecycle.

But, those models don’t account for the energy used to produce, manufacture, transport and construct buildings. Nor do they account for the energy to deconstruct and dispose of or recycle building materials. In other words, they do not account for embodied energy.

SSB 5485 authorizes a study to evaluate current standards and models for assessing the embodied energy in building materials. It also asks for recommendations about the next steps for taking embodied energy measurements from theory to practice.

The AIA|WA has been at the center of redrafting the bill to ensure that the study is unbiased and produces effective results. AIA|WA worked with stakeholders on all sides of the issue. At a hearing last week AIA|WA testified to the need for such a study, but also cautioned that embodied energy is only part of the picture. But, one must put the parts together to get the whole picture.

The proposed study will provide lawmakers with valuable information on which to make future policy decisions.

A revised version SSB 5485 passed the House Environment Committee this morning, with the AIA|WA’s support. Rep. Christine Rolfes led the efforts in the House to improve the quality of the study.

Watch this video for AIA|WA’s testimony.

Here is the entire hearing on the bill: