Madonna House at Belmont in June/July 2018 Virginia LEAP Newsletter

The Madonna House at Belmont project was completed on June 27, 2018, and included replacing all bathroom vanity 60 watt bulbs with 6 watt LED bulbs. This project also included the replacement of older shower heads with water efficient shower heads.

Small Changes Yield Big Benefits at Fredericksburg Apartment Complex

Property managers at Madonna House apartments in Fredericksburg have been keeping a close eye on the cost of energy and water for a few years and knew there was plenty of room for improvement in both electricity and water consumption at the complex.

Property Manager Woody Carter was excited when LEAP got in touch about Dominion Energy’s Low-Income Weatherization program because he understood the benefits right away. Changing incandescent bulbs to LEDs and installing low flow showerheads on such a large scale – 130 apartments in all – saves a lot of energy and money. At Madonna House that means more money in the tenants’ pockets since each resident pays their own individual electric bill.

LEAP staffer Ryan Van Patten, and summer interns Erilen Gomez and Mica Girstantas, recently spent a day installing 522 six-watt LED bulbs, replacing the 600-watt incandescents in the apartments. Each one bedroom apartment received 4 bulbs and two bedroom apartments received 8 bulbs. 78 low flow showerheads were also installed. This simple switch out will save 11,275 kWh per year.

“LEAP walked the Madonna House Management team through all facets of the project. Most importantly the LEAP technicians who came to install the energy efficient items were very polite to our community and caused minimal disturbance,” said Woody Carter. “As a company we are hoping to apply this project throughout our communities to reduce the impacts on human health and the environment.”