ERS Team: (clockwise from top left) Julia Clark, Claire Picken, Andrianne Dao, Somto Okonkwo
2020-2021: In collaboration with Energy and Resource Solutions (ERS), this student team conducted an energy audit and carbon reduction design for the Lathrop retirement community in Easthampton, MA. The project focused on reducing energy consumption and lowering carbon footprint in the residential buildings on Lathrop’s campus – the Inn and the townhouses – as well as future developments.
The team first completed a baseline assessment of the site with three parts: an inventory of Lathrop’s infrastructure and resource demands, a utility billing and usage analysis, and a benchmarking analysis. Building on these analyses and additional research on energy retrofit options, the team determined recommendations for energy efficiency measures (EEMs) for the Inn, EEMs for the townhouses, best practices for new construction, and potential options for on-site and off-site renewable energy generation. The team compiled the recommendations into design packages sorted by payback period, installation cost, and degree of carbon reduction to inform Lathrop’s future planning.