The biggest barrier to completing energy-efficient home improvements for some customers is unsurmountable health and safety hazards. When energy auditors identify health and safety hazards or items in the home that prevent the upgrades, commonly referred to as pre-weatherization work, the work in the home must be put on pause, or deferred, until the hazardous conditions are remedied. This presents a particular challenge for low-income customers, who often cannot take on the financial burden of completing the pre-weatherization work on their own.

Built in 1999, Pablo Davis Elder Living Center was the first senior center in southwest Detroit. Owned and operated by the nonprofit organization Bridging Communities, the facility houses 80 under-resourced renters and has become a fixture in the community.

In interviews with Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) implementers and agencies, a key programmatic challenge cited was walkaway rates. Walkaways happen when a home is unable to be weatherized due to a structural or health and safety issue, like a hole in the roof, flooding, hoarding and more. WAPs in the Midwest receive their funding largely from two sources, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the State Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Some states receive additional funding from local utilities, but that is not consistent throughout the region.

This year's Midwest Energy Solutions Conference (MES) incorporated interactive workshops into its agenda for the first time ever, and one of the three workshops focused on Net Zero Energy (NZE) in the Midwest. MEEA staff wanted attendees to consider what Net Zero Energy means for energy efficiency (EE) in the Midwest specifically. (For the purposes of the workshop, “NZE” was referring to any building, development or community that does not use more energy than it produces. See DOE’s NZE definitions).

Several employees from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) had the opportunity to test out the Association for Energy Affordability Inc. (AEA) building efficiency training facility on South Central Ave., near Midway International Airport.

On April 29, MEEA held a Legislative Breakfast event at Café Moxo in downtown Springfield, IL. The breakfast, attended by around 40 participants, including several state legislators, showcased businesses and organizations implementing energy efficiency programs, highlighting in particular the economic benefit derived directly from such programs.

Jacob Preciado, the Construction Manager at the Archdiocese of Chicago, explained that in some of their churches the boilers are over 100 years old. Because the parishes all have to self-finance these improvements with a limited budget, utility rebates were vital for making upgrades possible.

Since 2009, MEEA has participated in the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building America research program as a member of the Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit (PARR).