Weinberg Commons: Building Energy Savings into Affordable Housing

The Weinberg Commons project is the first Passive House multi-family retrofit in the United States, utilizing design elements to reduce heating and cooling energy use by up to 90%. The project demonstrates that high energy performance is critical for the economic stability of low-income families, as utility costs for the lowest income renters rose from 12.7% to 17.4% of total housing costs between 2000 and 2010. While the project cost approximately 8% more to construct than traditional methods, it provides 36 two-bedroom units with rents that include all utilities, supported by tax credits, capital grants, and rental vouchers.

• Weinberg Commons is the first multi-family retrofit development in the U.S. to use Passive House standards, employing passive solar gain, internal gains, and an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) to potentially lower heating and cooling energy consumption by 90%.
• Energy efficiency is vital for low-income renters because utility costs increased significantly more than rents between 2000 and 2010; specifically, the lowest income renters saw utility costs rise from 12.7% to 17.4% of their total housing costs.
• The project's construction cost was approximately 8% higher than traditional techniques, but the Passive House design enables the provision of 36 two-bedroom units with rents that include all utilities.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2016). Weinberg Commons: Building Energy Savings into Affordable Housing. https://www.eesi.org/files/Philip_Hecht_03216.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Weinberg Commons: Building Energy Savings into Affordable Housing. 2016. https://www.eesi.org/files/Philip_Hecht_03216.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Weinberg Commons: Building Energy Savings into Affordable Housing |date=21 March 2016 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/Philip_Hecht_03216.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2016weinberg, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Weinberg Commons: Building Energy Savings into Affordable Housing}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2016}, month = mar, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/Philip_Hecht_03216.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }