UTC Combines Support for Affordable Housing with Green Building Vision

For more than a decade, UTC and its employees have supported Habitat for Humanity, which helps low-income families become homeowners. In 2006, UTC hosted a symposium that brought Habitat for Humanity together with Global Green USA, a national leader in the push for green affordable housing. Members of all three organizations shared information and success stories with architects and others with a stake in green affordable housing.

As part of the event, the group toured a Habitat for Humanity project in Hartford’s Northeast neighborhood. UTC provided both products and financial support to help build the 33-unit development, which incorporates green building techniques. There’s also a duplex unit with special flooring, paint and lighting as well as a solar energy system. The residents of this demonstration unit are projected to save $1,100 a year in energy costs.

“Everyone, especially those who struggle to pay their bills each month, should be able to benefit” from green building, said Bill Sisson, UTC’s Director of Sustainability. Since 2004, UTC has given more than $1.6 million to support sustainability projects in local communities through its Sustainable Cities grants program.

“We are passionate about green building within the Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity organization,” says the organization’s Hartford Area Executive Director, Julie Donahue, “and we will incorporate it to the extent that we can keep our housing affordable.”

During the tour, John Mandyck, vice president of government and international relations for UTC’s Carrier business unit, noted that Americans have increased electricity use 22% over the past ten years. “House by house,” he said, “we can reverse this trend.”