As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $90 million in competitive awards to help cities, states, tribes and partnering organizations implement updated energy codes for new and renovated construction. Funded by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these awards will support 27 projects across 26 states and the District of Columbia to ensure buildings meet the latest standards for energy efficiency and resiliency to extreme weather.
Awardees will provide technical assistance for updating state and local building codes, which are projected to save Americans $138 billion on their utility bills and reduce 900 million metric tons of CO2 emissions by 2040.
Awarded projects
The 27 awarded projects encompass a number of key activities supporting energy code updates and implementation, including workforce development, community engagement, research and data collection, energy, equity and environmental justice, and increased support for compliance and enforcement.
Selected projects include:
- American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (Washington, D.C.) — awarded $9.6 million
- ClearlyEnergy, Inc. (Severna Park, MD) — awarded $2.9 million
- Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (Boston, MA) — awarded $3.9 million
- Metropolitan Energy Center (Kansas City, MO) — awarded $6.8 million
- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (Harrisburg, PA) — awarded $3.0 million
- Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (Atlanta, GA) — awarded $1.6 million
Additional award highlights include projects in Alaska where local communities and tribes will work together in energy code implementation; workforce development in Kansas and Missouri that include union partners to bring energy codes to rural communities; partnerships with unions and community groups in Massachusetts to bring energy codes to environmental justice communities; workforce development in Ohio and southeastern states with a focus on training on Building Performance Standards for retrofits; and municipal, contractor and union partnerships in Wisconsin to bring energy codes to more municipalities.
