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According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) affordable housing is defined as housing where costs do not exceed 30% of the gross monthly income of a low income household. Green housing refers to resource conservation during design and construction and operation and protection of occupants’ health and productivity. Commercial and rental buildings are massive consumers of energy. According to the U.S. Green building council, buildings account for 70 percent of electricity, 39 percent of energy usage, 12 percent of water consumption etc. Residential buildings accounted for 22 percent of total energy consumption and 18 percent of all carbon emissions.
In a study by Enterprise Community Partners, increasing energy efficiency in a multifamily building would cost approximately $2,500 per unit and would increase efficiency by 25 to 40 percent. The costs would be slightly higher for single family homes at $3,000 but the costs would be justified since they would be recovered within 5-10 years. Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design study notes that 80 percent of the HUD housing is 15-30 years old and over 65 percent of the public housing available was build before 1970. Applying green technologies to this infrastructure would reduce emissions significantly.