Electrifying Marginalized Communities: Innovative Solutions for Energy Efficiency and Electrification in Affordable Housing

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Location: Empire C (Level 2)

CE: 1.5 CEU credits

CEU Type(s): BPI, BSI, EA, HHE, INTERNACHI, NARI, QCI, RESNET

Lucyna de Barbaro

Director and Founder
Energy Efficiency Empowerment
Millvale, Pennsylvania
Jim Plantico (he/him/his)

Program Director
Community Energy Project
Portland, Oregon

Slides
Abasi Umoh (they/them/theirs)

Energy Auditor
Community Energy Project
Portland, Oregon
Becky Schaaf (she/her/hers)

Principal Consultant
VEIC
Winooski, Vermont

This panel will emphasize that in order for low income residential electrification programs to be successful, finely tuned solutions paired with enhanced weatherization implementation is required. The presentations will reveal how significant knowledge gaps among contractors, homeowners, and program administrators—coupled with inadequate measurement, modeling, and quality assurance protocols—are often overlooked barriers that undermine project success and limit the scalability of residential decarbonization efforts across diverse communities. The panel will discuss strategies for overcoming these often disregarded barriers as well as others, including home health challenges, workforce needs, and program funding constraints. Real-world examples will be used to demonstrate how nonprofits can build trust, break down barriers and achieve scalable success when electrifying homes in low income and marginalized communities.

Learning Objectives:

By attending this session, attendees will:

Better understand real-life barriers facing electrification programs in low-income communities.
Be able to describe how these barriers are overcome by nonprofit organizations engaged in electrification efforts.
Gain appreciation for methods for layering programs and braiding funds to achieve deeper energy impacts.