Thermal Coupling is a simple, inexpensive, and highly effective retrofit building technology that reduces moisture and heat exchange in raised structures built on piers, a common condition of homes in St. Roch and throughout New Orleans. By enclosing a home's crawl space with a moisture resistant material, the Thermal Coupling retrofit provides immediate energy savings and improved comfort to the homeowner, and also helps protect against moisture damage to the home's sills, joists, and subfloor.

In January 2011, FSRP launched its Thermal Coupling program by performing seven complimentary installations in the St. Roch neighborhood.

Work was performed by graduates of the Louisiana Green Corps, a program which trains young adults from disadvantaged communities in home weatherization techniques, energy efficient building, deconstruction, basic carpentry, and workplace safety, thereby giving New Orleans’ high risk youth a competitive advantage for employment in the region’s fast-emerging green building industry. Under the guidance of an LA Green Corps field supervisor, select LA Green Corps graduates will act as paid technicians of the Thermal Coupling product.

FSRP plans to expand its service to the St. Roch neighborhood by partnering with the Louisiana Green Corps to perform additional installations at no cost to homeowners.

FSRP’s Thermal Coupling program is designed to promote residential energy efficiency in the St. Roch neighborhood, expose St. Roch residents to career pathways in the region’s burgeoning green industry sector, and directly create green collar jobs for New Orleans’ high risk youth, thereby pairing the advancement of environmentally sustainable technologies with local workforce development.

The Faubourg St. Roch Project seeks to end years of urban disinvestment that has made St. Roch one of New Orleans’ most neglected neighborhoods. Littered with blight and known for dangerous, drug-infested corridors even before the storm, St. Roch endured further setback from Hurricane Katrina. The neighborhood is approximately 85 percent African-American, and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center and St. Roch Environmental Knowledge and Needs Survey show that the average household income is just $25,859, with more than one quarter of residents earning less than $10,000 year. More than 96 percent of the survey’s respondents experienced damage to their home from Hurricane Katrina, and most respondents reported over five feet of flooding. Pre-Katrina, St. Roch suffered from nearly a 20 percent home vacancy rate, and in the three year period following the storm, houses actively receiving mail in the St. Roch neighborhood declined an additional 41 percent from pre-storm levels. This high number of vacant homes, when coupled with a home ownership rate that struggles to climb above 20 percent, exacerbates St. Roch’s notorious issues of crime and blight.

As part of its efforts to holistically revitalize the neighborhood, FSRP’s Thermal Coupling program is designed to promote workforce development in St. Roch and increase both awareness and access to the benefits of residential energy efficiency.