How-To Guide #9 Opportunities for Renters

More than half of Brookline’s residents rent their homes. As a renter, you have opportunities to save energy, save money on utility bills, and improve the comfort of your home. And all of these efforts will also help to make a significant impact on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the Brookline community.

Not every electrification solution will apply to every Brookline renter,  depending on factors such as:

This guide presents a range of approaches that may or may not be applicable to your specific Brookline rental. The Mass Save website provides information on programs specifically for renters; Green Energy Consumers Alliance also provides helpful information on programs for renters and landlords.  In addition, the Electrify Brookline team has received funding to help our town’s renters access programs that can help lower their energy costs and make their homes more comfortable. Find out more about the Brookline Renters Project.

Background

The recently published Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap includes an ambitious near-term goal of the complete electrification of one million homes across the state by 2030 and ALL homes by 2050, whether owner-occupied or rented. The Roadmap outlines an approach to reach the Commonwealth’s goals to reduce carbon emissions through four straightforward efforts:

  1. Reduce Energy Demand
  2. Use 100% Renewable Electricity
  3. Electrify Everything
  4. Sequester Carbon

All Brookline residents – both renters and owners – can take actions in their homes to address the first three of these efforts. There are several ways to start your journey towards energy efficiency and emissions reductions on your own, and you may also be able to work with your landlord or property manager on pursuing larger improvements to the building.

1. Reduce Energy Demand

Even if your appliances and systems run on fossil fuels like gas or oil, as a renter you can still take individual actions to reduce your climate-damaging emissions by reducing your energy demand through efficiency and conservation.

2. Choose 100% Clean Energy through Brookline’s BGE Program

If you pay your own electricity bill, you can participate in the Brookline Green Electricity (BGE) program, which can reduce your carbon footprint by as much as 25%!  BGE is an official Community Choice Aggregation program whereby the Town negotiates with an electricity supplier to bulk purchase electricity at stable rates for all Eversource account holders in the Town. To see if you’re already participating in the program, check if the “Supplier” listed on your Eversource bill is “Brookline Green Electricity c/o NES.” Not participating? Use the online form at brooklinegreen.com or call our supplier, NextEra Energy, at 877.960.5514 to join.

For more details, read the How-To Guide #8: Renewable, Clean, Green Electricity.

3. Electrify Everything

As a renter, even if your landlord isn’t able to change appliances and energy systems in your apartment, there are still steps you can take to reduce your emissions.

Air-Source Heat Pumps for Apartments

Electric Cooking

Get a Home Energy Assessment

For more details on Home Energy Assessments, read the How-To Guide #2:  Weatherization, Insulation and Air Sealing.

Work with Your Landlord to Make Improvements

Talking to your landlord about energy efficiency is an opportunity to find shared benefits. An improved apartment will be more comfortable for you and can save on utility costs for both you and your landlord. 

How Your Neighbors Made the Switch

Story #1:  A Renter in a Drafty Single-Family Home

This Brookline resident has lived with her family in a rented single-family home for over ten years.  The landlord is out of state and has not been particularly interested in updating the house to make it more energy efficient. Since the renter pays the utilities, keeping the home as comfortable as possible in the winter, while saving energy, is important and they’ve taken some steps that have helped.

When the landlord needed to improve the heating and hot water system, he had MassSave perform a free energy assessment in hopes of getting a discount on the installation, but the assessment found knob and tube wiring that would need to be replaced and the landlord didn’t take the project further.

So the renter and her family have focused on doing what they can do themselves to make the space more comfortable, especially in winter when the old, leaky windows – even some with storm windows –cause drafts. There is a single thermostat on the first floor for the whole house. Since heat rises, the first floor can be quite cold while the top floor gets too warm – a real waste of energy. They decided that one strategy would be to trap the heat on the first floor as much as possible.  Another would be to make their windows less drafty.

What have they done to keep the first floor warmer?

  • They’ve installed a heavy curtain at the foot of the stairs to the second floor. This can keep at least some of the heat from rising up the staircase.
  • They keep the bedroom doors closed on the upper floors.
  • They made a theater curtain to hang between the dining room and the living room. This helps keep the heat in the living room.

What have they done for the leaky windows?

  • They shrink-wrapped the seven windows on the first floor with window insulating kits that provide sheets of plastic and double-sided tape. They’ve tried several different brands, including 3M and Frost King, both of which have worked well. They comment that the double stick tape needs to be high quality and the windows need to be clean before installing the sheeting, otherwise the sheeting may not stay in place and the leaks will persist.
  • They weatherstripped all 26 windows in the home. They also weatherstripped along the bottoms of their outside doors.

It’s work that needs to be done before each winter season and it can be costly, but they’ve found that it makes a real difference both to their comfort and their heating costs.

YouTube has some videos that provide guidelines on shrink-wrapping windows. One good one is How to Insulate Windows.

Story #2:  A Case Study from Rewiring America

Rewiring America has put together several case studies of families making changes to electrify their residences and how the Inflation Reduction Act from the Federal government can provide rebates and/or up-front discounts. The Guide, titled Go Electric provides everything you need to know to start using the electric bank account full of money you now have to electrify your household.

One case study focuses on a retired couple with a small income who are renting an apartment in Atlanta, Georgia – A retired Georgia couple electrify their apartment – which is on page 24 of the guide.  While their decisions may not be relevant for all renters, the case study shows that renters can take steps to improve the comfort of their home and the climate too.  

These how-to guides may contain links to other public or private organizations. The Town of Brookline does not guarantee the accuracy of information on other organizations’ sites to which this guide links. Links to any product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply any endorsement, recommendation, or association with those sites, the material contained therein, or the sponsoring entities by the Town of Brookline or any of their officials, appointees, boards, agents, and employees. The Town of Brookline makes no claims, no representations, and no warranties (express or implied) about the validity, affordability, accuracy, or viability of any products or services offered by any such organizations. The Town of Brookline disclaims any liability stemming from errors or omissions in the contents of these sites, or for any improper or incorrect use of their contents. The burden for determining the accuracy or appropriateness of information on these sites rests solely on the user accessing the information. The contents of these sites are not owned or controlled by the Town, and the Town disavows any legal responsibility for the opinions expressed on them.

IMPORTANT: Verify with your installers that they have the proper licenses and insurance, and confirm that they have or will obtain all required permits and inspections from the Town of Brookline.