Now that the Oakland EcoBlock is near completion, what lessons has the project team — led by Therese Peffer, associate director of CITRIS Climate and the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) — learned?
The five-year project served as a pilot effort to upgrade an entire neighborhood block in Oakland with water-efficient appliances, energy-efficient insulation and solar panels, with additional amenities such as a shared electric vehicle. Championed by Peffer’s team and several neighbors, a majority of residents embraced an opportunity for meaningful transformation, free of cost, while researchers assessed the future viability of similar projects.
Due to rising costs and supply chain issues that developed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team narrowed their all-electric vision to target heating and cooling systems, a home’s largest source of pollution. Despite this compromise, their successes and hardships alike brought researchers and residents valuable information about retrofitting housing infrastructure and building community.
Peffer noted that the EcoBlock pilot, which cost $8 million in state and private funding, totaled much more than future block-level retrofitting efforts will need. She estimates similar projects moving forward will cost just a third of that — and they’ll go much faster, too.
“It takes that first time of kicking the tires and trying to break things to lay that pathway for the next one,” she said.
She also estimates that buying equipment in bulk can save 10 to 20 percent in expenses, and suggests that group work requests will gain more competitive bids from contractors. Another key takeaway for the team was the importance of community commitment and the value of group projects, such as tree plantings and collaborative installations, in increasing participation among neighbors.
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