Knox County Housing Authority – Kaitlin Goldsmith – 2013

Goals

Kaitlin Goldsmith was asked to complete the Green Physical Needs Assessment as part of Knox County Housing Authority’s goals outlined in the Green Organizational Accreditation by the Sustainability Performance Institute (SPI) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Solutions

Goldsmith completed the Green Physical Needs Assessment for KCHA using energy efficient equipment data. She further recommended using water saving, high-efficiency toilets, which are currently being tested at six of its 74 public housing residences. Goldsmith also identified the opportunity to use automated utility tracking to analyze Knox County Housing Authority’s progress towards energy reduction goals and benchmarking for finding further energy efficiency upgrade opportunities. Such a tracking dashboard could allow Knox County to identify continued energy savings as soon as possible. Residential campaigns have also been implemented to instigate energy conservation habits amongst the housing authority’s residents.

Potential Impact

The completion of the GPNA brings Knox County Housing Authority closer to its sustainability goals. The water saving toilets should save about $2,800 annually, and the residential campaign could reduce the average home’s energy consumption by up to 10%.