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The Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) community represents just one of the many aspects of the University of Michigan’s diverse and unique student body. Established in 1932, the ICC has
evolved into one of the largest student-housing cooperatives in the United States with 18 co-op houses. 

Two years ago, the ICC leadership implemented a residential sustainability and energy efficiency initiative. Since then, they have undertaken a range of activities focused on lessening their environmental impact and using energy more efficiently, including utilizing a $4,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation to replace old showerheads with low-flow, energy efficient ones. In addition, energy monitors were purchased for each house to track energy consumption and foster greater awareness among residents.

The Vice President of Sustainability oversees much of these efforts as well as the sustainability stewards program, with the goal of creating a steward in each house. Stewards are charged with ensuring that their housemates are turning off lights in unoccupied rooms and unplugging unused electronics – and not setting the thermostat too high or too low. Adam Dingens, current Vice President of Sustainability, says that “such efforts are lowering the total energy consumption and costs, and fostering greater awareness.”

By working together, members of the ICC are reducing their footprint and serving as a great example of how large-scale alternative housing can incorporate energy efficiency into peoples’ daily lives. Learn more about the ICC here. 

Although many renters end up living in old and poorly insulated buildings, Anne decided to reside in the Arrowwood Hills Cooperative, which recently invested in a unit-by-unit energy efficiency retrofit project. The cooperative added insulation to the exterior walls of each unit and to the top of the basement walls, helping to improve areas that are frequent sources of heat loss. In addition, the cooperative installed energy efficient CFLs in each unit’s lighting fixtures to lower residential electricity consumption and save on light bulb replacements. 

Not only is Anne interested in cooperative housing models, but she is also an environmentally conscious renter who keeps the thermostat low, turns off unused lights, and unplugs appliances when not in use. These steps have helped Anne lower her gas and electric bills, and make her home a much more comfortable place to live.  

Nearly two years ago, the Ecology Center contemplated the idea of moving from a residential area of Ann Arbor to a marquee location downtown. Today, the Ecology Center is not only in a central location on East Liberty Street across from the Post Office, but is also a shining example of sustainable tenant improvements and energy efficiency. 

Essentially, it was the goal of the Ecology Center to occupy an office space that represented their core values and mission, and they have truly accomplished this. Windows and skylights allow for an abundance of passive solar light, which reduces the number of lights needed and the monthly electricity bill. The office’s track lighting is retrofitted for occupancy and motion sensors, which further reduces total energy consumption. In addition, the conference tables and desks are made out of wood and piping that was removed from the space during renovation.

The Ecology Center is a membership-based, nonprofit environmental organization based in Ann Arbor that works at the local, state, and national levels to advance clean production, promote healthy communities, strive for environmental justice, and foster a sustainable future. Visit their website for more information, or watch a short video about their LEED-CI Gold office space. 

The Wolf family was already dedicated to efficiency, environmental responsibility, and frugality, so for years they used minimal heating and no air conditioning in their 1928 home. Unfortunately, this meant very cold winters and very hot summers. So when they decided to make some upgrades, instead of shelling out big bucks to pay to install central air conditioning, Aaron Wolf and his family figured out how to make their house much more comfortable without increasing energy consumption. “We are a good example of doing what we can with carefully directed limited funding. We went from using less energy than most people and being pretty uncomfortable, to using even less energy still and being comfortable enough.”

The Wolfs started by adding spray foam insulation to their previously uninsulated walls and increasing the amount of insulation in their attic. The extra insulation reduced air leakage substantially, which also keeps cool air inside the living space in the summertime. Installing exterior window shades on the south side of their house also helps their house stay cool in the summer. Aaron says that these shades have been the best “bang for the buck” investment because they were so inexpensive to buy and easy to install, and have made an enormous difference in the comfort level of their home. An insulated, self-sealing, whole-house fan also does wonders to keep the Wolfs’ house at a comfortable temperature.

After these upgrades, the Wolf family is even able to keep the house much warmer in the wintertime than before making the improvements, while still managing to reduce heating costs by 40%!

To gain more control over energy costs at Arbor Brewing Company’s downtown Ann Arbor location, and to more closely align their business practices with their personal commitment to the environment, owners Matt and Rene Greff completed multiple energy efficiency improvements over the last two years.  They started out by tackling the brewpub’s major energy users: switching to CFL and cold cathode lighting and installing low-flow water sprayers, waterless urinals, motion lighting, and workplace occupancy sensors. Matt and Rene didn’t stop there, however; they saw an opportunity to make the move to renewable energy, too. Taking advantage of a combination of local grants, a federal tax credit, and DTE incentive programs, they installed a 2.4kW solar photovoltaic array, 300 solar thermal collector tubes to heat water without using electricity, and a high-efficiency tankless water heater system. 

Speaking of the project, Matt said, “From a personal standpoint, this is something we care about. From a business standpoint, it just made economic sense.” Matt said that he expects the company will recoup its investment for the entire project within 10 years.

Visit the Commercial Savings section for more information on current incentives programs available to business owners – including Ann Arbor’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.

After a November 2011 energy analysis revealed that their home was experiencing substantial air leakage  - and identified lack of insulation as the culprit - Gregg and Andrea Horvath took action. They hired a contractor to insulate their entire home and immediately recognized a tremendous improvement: the comfort level in the home increased dramatically and it's much quieter inside. Follow-up testing showed that the Horvaths have reduced air infiltration in their home by 33%. With these improvements, they expect to save $381 on their heating costs annually.

Dave Chmura replaced 13 incandescent light bulbs with dimmable LED light bulbs.  Each year, he saves approximately $114 and the equivalent of 14,387 pounds of carbon dioxide. In addition to the energy savings and longevity of the bulbs, Dave is incredibly pleased with the quality of the bulb's light output and dim.  "The LEDs we ended up with," said Dave, "dim much more evenly and can dim lower than the CFLs [we tried out]."