Title: How Energy-Efficient Homes Can Fight Poverty
Duration: 1.14 minutes
Description:
With 48 million Americans living below the poverty line, many are faced with difficult decisions between, for example, heating the house or buying groceries. A passive house—super-insulated and airtight to keep energy bills low—can help.Habitat for Humanitybuilt six of them for low-income families in Washington, D.C. "It's basically as energy efficient as building gets," says Dan Hines, senior construction supervisor for the project.
How Energy-Efficient Homes Can Fight PovertyTranscript:
[Background music plays]
Thoughtful, concerning music
[Animation]
Spinning globe animation with video series title
[Text]
“Empowered—Changing the World through Bright Ideas”
[Video Footage]
Cities
Power lines
Traffic
Stove top burner flame
Thermostat
Lights going on and off in buildings
[Voiceover: Dan Hines, Senior Construction Supervisor, DC Habitat]
“Everyone having access to energy in the United States isn’t the whole story. You need to be able to afford to use that access.”
[Visual of Dan Hines speaking]
[Text]
Dan Hines, DC Habitat
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“There’s around 48 million people living below the poverty line.”
[Video Footage]
Homes covered in snow
Homes in disrepair
Poorly insulated windows
Dim light in a house blinking on and off
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“And in a given month, if it’s too cold, they might have to choose between heating or eating”
[Video Footage]
Washington Monument in Washington, DC in the evening
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“As part of DC Habitat’s Ivy City Project…
[Background music change]
Uplifting, busy music
[Video Footage]
People building homes
Measuring wood
Digging foundations
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
…we’re building high efficiency passive houses for low-income families to live in.”
[Video Footage]
Workers and volunteers wearing hard hats
Workers caulking
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“Passive House is like a thermos because it’s super air-tight, and super insulated.”
[Text]
super air-tight, super insulated
[Video Footage]
Workersinsulating
Putting in new windows
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“It’s basically as energy efficient as building gets…
[Video Footage]
Areal shot of completed homes
Home “sold” sign
Hand turning heat on,
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
...when it comes to low-income homeowners, the more efficient a house is,
[Video Footage]
Coins tumbling onto a table
Calculator
Receipt being torn off
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
…the more they can budget for those energy costs.”
[Video Footage]
View out of a house window in the winter
Washington Monument in a thunderstorm
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“They are not going to change a lot month to month.”
[Video Footage]
Many people walking in a busy city street
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“Everybody wants to live with less impact on the world…
[Visual of Dan Hines speaking]
…around them, a lot of times people just don’t know how.”
[Video Footage]
Dan in front of Passive House buildings in progress
He puts on baseball hat and turns toward home
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
“We are empowering people by giving them an energy efficient place to live…
[Video Footage]
Homeowner couple in front of their new home
[Dan Hines Voiceover]
…that they can be proud of.”
[End frame 1]
[Split screen]
[Text display]
DC Habitat is one of the 29 real-world projects focused on innovative solutions funded by the Great Energy Challenge.
[Still image of project]
[End frame 2]
Great Energy Challenge partnership logo,
[Female Voiceover]
“The Great Energy Challenge is a National Geographic initiative in partnership with Shell”