205 Jones Street Apartments: A Case Study

Background

205 Jones Street is a 94-year-old 6-story property made up of 50 affordable apartment units. The property was originally built in the 1920s and is located in the Uptown Tenderloin Historic District of San Francisco.

To assist in paying for improvements at the property, along with its project partners, the property leveraged funding from the California Low Income Weatherization Program (LIWP).  Administered by the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), LIWP is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities and other “priority population” low-income communities and households


Solutions

The comprehensive energy efficiency and water conservation measures at the property included:

  • Domestic Hot Water Fuel switched from gas water heaters to electric heat pump water heaters
  • Hot Water Recirculation Installed domestic hot water recirculation flow control
  • Common Area Lighting Installed LED lighting in all common areas
  • In Unit Lighting Installed LED lighting in all units
  • Washing Machines Switch from top load to front load ENERGY STAR® washing machines
  • Kitchen Faucets Installed 1.5 gallon per minute (gpm) aerators on all kitchen faucets
  • Bathroom Faucets Installed 0.5 gpm aerators on all bathroom faucets
  • Showerheads Installed 1.5 gpm showerheads in all showers
  • Insulation Insulated domestic hot water piping and heating ducts
  • TRVs Installed thermostatic radiator valves on all radiators in units

Heat Pump Water Heaters at 205 Jones Street apartments white heat pumps in basement


Other Benefits

As a result of the retrofit project at 205 Jones Street Apartments, Mercy Housing won the National Apartment Association’s Return on Energy (ROE) Energy Retrofit Award in 2018. The ROE Awards spotlight action and results in energy management beneficial to the multifamily industry; the Energy Retrofit Award recognizes innovative solutions that successfully reduce energy use while demonstrating an excellent ROI at an individual property.

In addition, as a result of water savings measures, the property reduced its water consumption by about 8%.