May 26--Demonstrating that energy-saving improvements can pay for themselves, the Charleston Housing Authority is wrapping up a $3.4 million initiative intended to reduce water and electricity consumption at its public housing units.

As other local governments have done, the authority entered into a contract with a private company, Siemens Building Technologies, to undertake a series of measures guaranteed by the company to produce enough savings to pay for the improvements.

Over the past two years, low-flow toilets have been installed in public housing units to save water, energy-efficient refrigerators were purchased for all 1,399 of the authority's units, and flow-restrictors were added to faucets and showers.

Authority Executive Director Don Cameron said a study of 500 of those housing units found that water consumption dropped 43 percent, significantly reducing the authority's water and sewer bills.

The energy-efficient refrigerators cut electricity bills, which are paid by housing authority residents; but much of the savings will go to the authority because of a federal formula that requires residents to pay 30 percent of their income for rent and utilities.

As utility costs decline, a larger portion of the residents' payments can go toward rent.

Cameron said the payback period for all of the improvements is expected to be 12 years.

He said the initiative already has yielded some additional savings that the authority was able to use for improvement projects that otherwise would have been delayed, or paid for with taxpayer dollars.

Of course, another benefit is reduced demand for water, in a state often troubled by drought, and reduced demand for electricity at a time when governments large and small are working to cut energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions.

"It saves energy for everybody," Cameron said.

The city of Charleston has used a similar program, with a different contractor, to reduce energy consumption through improvements structured to pay for themselves.

Johnson Controls was hired to oversee $17 million worth of efficiency upgrades for the city since 2001.

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