retrofitMAINE is an open-source, collaborative project to bring together cross-cutting expertise to build fifty high-performance retrofits of common Maine building typologies, using passive house principles. In the process, we’ll develop best practices that can be reproduced economically throughout the state and other northern latitudes. We have established a number of local, regional and international partnerships, including the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State University, which have offered to help measure and evaluate the retrofits. The United Nations Global Building Initiative will help share best practices throughout northern latitudes.

While cities and their dense communities receive much needed attention, rural communities are often left out of the conversation. The “rural efficiency gap,” the financial and logistical barriers described by the Island Institute, Rockland, Maine, is a product of multiple problems. “Islands and other rural communities throughout the United States pay some of the highest costs for electricity and heating fuel. With such high energy costs, the financial benefits of energy efficiency can be significant, but if you live in one of these rural and underdeveloped places it can be difficult to find financing for energy upgrades or a contractor who will work in your area.” This is a global problem for northern climates.

The goal of retrofitMAINE is to investigate and develop prototypes, strategies and best practices for deep energy to passive house standard retrofits of typical construction, to be replicated and shared with regional and international partners whose climates and housing stock are similar.