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<br />16.Please describe any potential
<br />negative side effects of the
<br />project and describe the steps
<br />you are taking/will take to
<br />eliminate or minimize these
<br />impacts to any low-income or
<br />marginalized
<br />communities/households:
<br />17.Are the impacted residents
<br />already aware of the potential
<br />positive and negative impacts
<br />of your project and the steps
<br />you are taking? If not, please
<br />describe your plan to engage
<br />with them and how you will act
<br />based on their input:
<br />18.During and after the project,
<br />what will your continued
<br />engagement with the
<br />community be?
<br />19.Please describe any other
<br />aspect of your project that is
<br />relevant to Social Justice and
<br />Racial Equity:
<br />Criterion 2 - Emissions Reduced
<br />20.How many tons of greenhouse
<br />gas emissions will your project
<br />reduce/avoid each year? Please
<br />list any data sources used and
<br />show the steps of any
<br />calculations. Feel free to submit
<br />in a separate document if
<br />clearly labelled:
<br />21.For how many years will this
<br />emissions reduction take place
<br />as a result of your project?
<br />Please consider the expected
<br />lifetime of the
<br />technology/program/impact
<br />etc.
<br />Solar arrays require plentiful sun exposure. The PEACH
<br />Apartments are being built in a wooded area. Although
<br />trees are being cut down to accommodate the physical
<br />buildings and the parking lot, up to 6 additional trees
<br />may need to be cut down to ensure adequate sun
<br />exposure, which has the potential to affect this project
<br />negatively. Some of these are pine trees which don’t
<br />sequester as much carbon as other leafier species of
<br />trees. Removal of pine trees reduces the potential
<br />damage to the building should they fall. However, cutting
<br /> down trees reduces their ability to act as a carbon sink
<br />and also reduces shade for tenants. To minimize these
<br />impacts, EI is providing landscaping for tenants. These
<br />trees will be tall enough to provide shade yet low enough
<br /> to avoid blocking the panels from the sun. More
<br />importantly, installing rooftop solar will more than offset
<br />the environmental impact of cutting down a few trees to
<br />allow for more sunlight. Over its 30-year lifespan, the
<br />solar array will also prevent 2.15 million pounds of
<br />carbon from entering the atmosphere, the equivalent of
<br />planting around 19,600 trees. 2.15 million pounds of
<br />carbon is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 740
<br />mature trees.
<br />After 30 years, the solar panels installed on the PEACH
<br />Apartments will still provide 70% of their original output.
<br />Orange County already has a robust secondary market
<br />for used solar panels that figures to grow significantly
<br />over the next 30 years. For instance, Habitat Restores
<br />already resells used solar panels. Moreover, due to the
<br />rapid deployment of solar panels nationally, recycling
<br />solar panel materials will be readily available when
<br />installed panels are decommissioned.
<br />
<br />The project's negative effects will not affect residents;
<br />they will only benefit from reduced energy costs. Any
<br />adverse effects will be absorbed by EmPOWERment.
<br />This project requires that energy be treated as an
<br />amenity from a billing perspective. EI will pay the energy
<br /> bill monthly and divide the costs amongst the ten
<br />apartment units. The division of the energy bill will be
<br />based on the number of bedrooms in each unit. Since EI
<br /> won’t track energy usage on a team-by-unit basis,
<br />tenants will feel less motivated to be energy conscious
<br />daily. To generate buy-in and educate the tenants on the
<br /> solar project, EI will acquire literature from NC Solar
<br />Now and hold a joint workshop for EI clients, including
<br />PEACH Apartment residents, SolarEquity, and NC Solar
<br /> Now. This workshop will be held over Zoom and will
<br />focus on the benefits of rooftop solar and ways to reduce
<br /> energy demand. At the PEACH Apartments’
<br />ribbon-cutting ceremony, EI will provide an educational
<br />fridge magnet to the new residents. The appeal was
<br />designed by Give Solar, a solar non-profit based out of
<br />Virginia that installs rooftop solar on affordable housing
<br />projects. The request outlines ten ways to decrease
<br />energy usage, which can be found here:
<br />https://give.solar/solar-access-toolbox-for-homeowners/s
<br />olar-access-toolbox-homeowner-tips-for-smaller-electric-
<br />bills/
<br />EI is obtaining solar equipment from a high-quality panel
<br /> provider, Maxon. It’s important to note that the panels
<br />installed have a 30-year warranty and will require little to
<br /> no maintenance. If the project succeeds, Maxon is
<br />considering partnering with EI to solarize their Midway
<br />Business Center and several rental properties over the
<br />coming years. On the other hand, inverters have a
<br />warranty of 12-15 years. EmPOWERment must
<br />anticipate replacing their inverters after 15 years.
<br />Nonetheless, inverters will likely cost only a few hundred
<br /> dollars as the photovoltaic industry figures to expand
<br />rapidly in coming years, driving down the price of
<br />equipment.
<br />
<br />It is important to EmPOWERment Inc that the
<br />solarization of the PEACH Apartments will be the first of
<br />many. EI has long been a significant player in providing
<br />affordable housing in Orange County and will continue to
<br /> be a partner in affordable housing rental. Since its
<br />creation in 1996, EI has provided 62 affordable rental
<br />units and three privately owned homes. Their legacy in
<br />Orange County is solidified and will only continue to
<br />grow as they plan on staying in the same geographic
<br />location.
<br />While Empowerment has successfully managed several
<br />properties over the years, the PEACH Apartments
<br />represent their first construction of new affordable
<br />housing units to address the demand of families earning
<br />at or below 30% AMI. This project marks SolarEquity’s
<br />first attempt at solarizing a multifamily development.
<br />PEACH will be the initial step in establishing a working
<br />partnership, allowing EMPOWERment to continue
<br />constructing more rental housing in marginalized
<br />communities.
<br />The median income of residential solar adopters in the
<br />United States is $110,000. The median household
<br />income in the United States is $79,000. Thus, one can
<br />conclude that the average adopter of residential solar
<br />makes considerably more money than the average U.S.
<br />citizen. This presents an equity issue as climate change
<br />disproportionately affects low-income individuals who
<br />don’t have the income to combat rising temperatures
<br />and extreme weather events personally. To make
<br />matters worse, the bottom 50% of earners emit just 7%
<br />of carbon emissions globally, underlining that
<br />low-income people contribute less to climate change and
<br /> suffer more from its effects. The percentage of
<br />residential solar installations in Disadvantaged
<br />Communities doubled from 5% to 11% in 2021, while
<br />Disadvantaged Communities make up 18% of US
<br />households as a whole, so they remain
<br />underrepresented relative to their share of the
<br />population.
<br />Aside from facts, figures, and accomplishments,
<br />EmPOWERment, Inc. has become a listening ear, a
<br />helping hand, and a trusted friend to many people in our
<br />communities. Statistics, rubrics, or graphs cannot
<br />measure some successes but instead lie in the social
<br />capital of connecting people with the tools to construct
<br />their dreams into reality.
<br />By alleviating the energy burdens of PEACH Apartment
<br />residents, residents will have more time and resources
<br />to reinvest in each other, perpetuating a cycle of
<br />community engagement and lifting families out of
<br />poverty.
<br />
<br />The installation of a 42.075 kW system on the PEACH
<br />Apartments will generate 1,556,230 kWh over a 30-year
<br />time period. To find this number, we estimated that the
<br />panels will have a .45% degradation rate over the
<br />30-year time period. This level of energy production will
<br />prevent 2.15 million pounds of carbon or 1,075 metric
<br />tons from entering the atmosphere. This value was
<br />calculated with the official EPA carbon emissions
<br />calculator and has been corroborated by NC Solar Now.
<br /> For every dollar granted through the Orange County
<br />Climate Action Fund Grant, 18.8 pounds of carbon will
<br />be prevented from entering the atmosphere.
<br />
<br />Assumptions:
<br />
<br />639.7 lbs CO2e/MWh = 0.6397 lbs CO2e/kWh, 0.6397
<br />lbs CO2e/kWh * 0.4536 = 0.290 kg CO2e/kWh
<br />
<br />Emissions factor (kg CO2e/kWh): 0.29
<br />The emissions reduction will occur over the 30-year
<br />lifespan of the panels. The panels will operate at 70% of
<br />their initial capacity at the end of their 30-year lifetime.
<br />Nonetheless, given the likely increase in the cost of
<br />electricity, we expect that monthly savings will be higher
<br />than at the outset of the project. Duke Energy recently
<br />passed a rate change through the North Carolina
<br />Utilities Commission that’ll increase energy costs by
<br />15.7% by the beginning of 2026. Since energy costs will
<br />be higher, the value of prevented natural gas use will
<br />also increase. EI will then split the remaining portion of
<br />the bill amongst the ten units. To ensure that the
<br />remaining energy bill will be split equitably amongst the
<br />units, the account will be divided based on the number
<br />of bedrooms within each department. For example, the
<br />3-bedroom team will pay three times as much on energy
<br /> as the 1-bedroom unit. These additional savings will
<br />automatically be passed onto the residents of the Peach
<br />Apartments. EmPOWERment will not need to change its
<br /> billing structure or rates to share the increase in savings
<br /> with tenants.
<br />
<br />If we are left with excess funds after claiming a 40%
<br />direct pay rebate, the money will be used for the
<br />solarization of EI’s small business incubator, The
<br />Midway Business Center. We will expand on this point in
<br /> other sections of the grant application.
<br />DocuSign Envelope ID: EB7B9CC8-B910-4965-AF93-0969E3E03E78
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