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Research Projects on Housing & Energy Transitions

Our interdisciplinary research projects focus on the intersection of housing, energy systems, policy, and community well-being. Through detailed modeling, field research, and scenario development, we provide practical insights to guide policymakers, utilities, researchers, and communities through equitable energy transitions.

Our Tools

Across both RESPECT and the Climate Jobs Initiative, we use a shared set of tools to model housing transitions. These include FusionACS, a dataset that connects housing, demographic, and well-being data; ResStock, which helps us represent a range of U.S. housing types; and permit and workforce data that show what’s actually happening on the ground. Our scenario models—both dynamic and agent-based—allow us to test how different policies, conditions, and choices might play out in the real world.

How We Work

Our approach combines data analysis, systems modeling, and real-world insight. We blend quantitative datasets with interviews and field-based knowledge, working across disciplines like engineering, economics, and social science. We focus on variation—across housing types, regions, and communities—and prioritize feasibility rather than just technical ideals. Collaboration is central, and we aim to reflect complexity without losing clarity.

 

Our Goals

Our goal is to help others make smarter, more equitable decisions about housing and energy. We build tools that can plug into broader systems like workforce planning or policy evaluation, and we share findings in formats that support state, local, and nonprofit decision-makers. By focusing on comfort, equity, and what’s actually possible, we hope to shape planning conversations that lead to better outcomes for communities.

Climate Jobs Initiative: Building Electrification Scenarios

Designing realistic, people-centered pathways to electrify U.S. homes.

This work is supported by the Climate Jobs Institute at the University of Illinois and brings together experts in labor, housing, and climate policy.

As part of the Climate Jobs Initiative, we’re focusing on the residential building stock—trying to understand how different types of homes across the U.S. can make the switch to electric energy systems. Our goal is to help planners and policymakers identify upgrade pathways that reflect real-world housing conditions, labor capacity, and community needs.

What We’re Trying to Understand

  • What kinds of energy upgrades are needed for different types of homes—like single-family, multifamily, or older housing?

  • Where are upgrades most feasible, and where are they most urgently needed?

  • How does workforce availability shape what’s possible?

  • How can policies—like rebates, incentives, or training programs—speed up or slow down progress?

What Makes This Work Unique

  • We’re trying to connect home upgrades with good local jobs—not just emissions goals.

  • Our scenarios are grounded in what exists now, not just what’s ideal.

  • We’re working to understand how cost, policy, and labor interact to shape outcomes.

  • And we’re building models that states, utilities, and local governments can actually use to plan ahead.

Where We’re Headed

We’re continuing to build retrofit scenarios and working on ways to share what we learn. That includes tools to help decision-makers see:

  • Where electrification is possible

  • What kind of labor support is needed

  • How different policies change the pace—and fairness—of the transition. 

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: Understanding Realistic Energy Transitions in U.S. Housing

Modeling how homes, people, and systems interact in the shift to electrification.

This work brought together researchers from Colorado State University, the University of Illinois, Yale University, and CSU Pueblo.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. stands for Relevant, Rich, and Realistic Representations of Housing, Well-Being, and Energy-Coupled Transitions. Through this project, we’ve been working to understand how housing types, resident well-being, and retrofit potential shape the transition to electric energy systems. Our research explores not just which upgrades are possible, but which ones are likely, based on what people care about, how homes are built, and how systems change over time.

What We’ve Been Trying to Understand

  • How household decisions about energy are influenced by comfort, control, cost, and stress—not just energy savings

  • How to represent heterogeneity (differences among people, homes, and communities) in a way that improves planning

  • What types of retrofits are feasible across U.S. housing types, and how these vary by region, ownership, and building condition

  • How to model realistic transitions using data from households, permits, and physical systems instead of idealized assumptions.

What Makes This Work Distinct

  • We created FusionACS, a new fused dataset that connects housing characteristics with demographic and well-being variables at national scale

  • We adapted DOE’s ResStock to focus on older, underrepresented, and multifamily housing that is often excluded from large-scale modeling

  • We developed scenario frameworks that explore adoption within real constraints such as limited time, money, or trust in the system

  • We emphasized well-being as a measurable input rather than just an outcome, by mapping it across the household experience.

    What Comes Next

    • We are organizing and publishing results focused on housing typologies, decision-making, and equity in energy transitions.

    • We are preparing briefs, summaries, and visual materials to help community and policy partners apply our findings.

    • We are finalizing modeling tools and scenario frameworks so they can be adapted by other teams and planning efforts.

    • We are working to ensure that the insights from this project continue to inform real-world energy planning.