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    Baltimore developers to Revitalize Neighborhood via $4.9M Zero Energy project

    Nov. 16, 2021
    Solar panels and super-insulated walls will allow the property to produce as much energy as it consumes
    Zero Energy Penn North rendering
    Zero Energy Penn North rendering

    A $4.9-million Zero Energy housing project planned in the Baltimore metropolitan area has gained new equity investors.

    Woodforest CEI-Boulos Opportunity Fund announced its $1.1-million investment in the Zero Energy North Avenue Affordable Housing Project. The Zero Energy development will be in the “Black Arts District” of West Baltimore’s Penn North neighborhood.

    Baltimore-based Schreiber Brothers Development is heading up the Zero Energy North Avenue project. The developers will rehabilitate abandoned, historic townhouses and create a mixed-use, carbon-neutral zone including solar panel installation available to low-income residents.

    The project will create 20 units of affordable housing and four commercial storefronts. The plan is to lease the storefronts to local, black-owned businesses and neighborhood nonprofits, including a childcare service provider.

    The elimination of transportation and energy bills for the businesses will generate a substantial reduction in operating costs for the small businesses, non-profits and residential tenants. The development, which is accessible to public transportation, will bring new job opportunities to a community that has long suffered from divestment, according to the news release.

    Solar panels and super-insulated walls will allow the property to produce as much energy as it consumes, reducing energy costs and allowing the housing units to be even more affordable. The project is expected to achieve Passive House certification for its energy efficiency.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.