BETTER BUILDINGS 2.0David LeeEERE Building Technologies Residential Program

• Homes: 20 quads annual U.S. primary energy consumption

• Mean age of home: 37 yrs • Retrofit rates are tiny: <1%• Large fraction of

consumption in heating, cooling, lighting, but advanced technology exists and is ready to use

• Residential EE is essential to meeting energy and climate goals

Why Buildings? Why Push for Homes?

• 80 million single family occupied homes in U.S.

• New homes constructed: – 500,000 – 1 million

• Existing single family homes sold:– 4 million – 5 million

Why Retrofits?

-

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

2007 2008 2009

Sing

le-fa

mily

hom

es

SF existing home sales

SF housing starts

• Recovery Through Retrofit:– Issued in Oct. 2009 by

the White House Middle Class Task Force

– Identified 3 key barriers to residential retrofit…

• Access to:– Information– Financing– Skilled workforce

– Multiple federal agencies tasked with overcoming barriers

U.S. Strategy Overview

• Recovery Through Retrofit (RTR) agencies developing:– A national home energy

performance measure– An energy performance label

for homes– Support for state revolving

loan funds, improved access to EE through mortgage products

– National workforce certification & standards guidelines

U.S. Strategy Overview (cont.)

• DOE Recovery Act grant program to conduct large scale, whole neighborhood retrofit programs– Residential, commercial,

industrial, public buildings• Projected Results:

– High-quality retrofits– Significant energy efficiency

improvements– A successful model for

retrofit programs that could be used nation-wide

– Energy savings, GHG reductions

Implementing RTR: BetterBuildings

• Restrictions:– Design and construction of new buildings– Technology demonstration w/o market transformation– Exclusive focus on renewables– Incremental improvements over business-as-usual to

existing policies

Restrictions/Requirements

• $452M of ARRA funds: Competitive grants under EE and Conservation Block Grant Program

• 3-year grants to local and state governments of $5M to $40M each

• Dec. 2009: 131 applications– Total request: $3.36

billion• April 2010: 25 grants

awarded • June 2010: 10 additional

grants $1M to $5M each

Better Buildings (cont.)

MA

Los Angeles

Chicago

Phoenix

Kansas City

Portland

Seattle

Austin

San Antonio

Greensboro, NC

Philadelphia, PACamden, NJ

Lowell, MA

Maryland

KYCincinnati

Denver, Boulder, Garfield Co.

Berlin, Plymouth, Nashua NH

Omaha

Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, WI

Indianapolis

PR

NY

ME

CA

OR

MO

Grand Rapids, Detroit, SE MI

San Francisco

MI

New Orleans

AtlantaDecatur

Jacksonville, FL

Huntsville, ALU.S. Virgin Islands

Charleston, SC

OHToledo

Carrboro and Chapel Hill, NC

Charlottesville, VA

Hampton Roads, VA

San Diego

LincolnEagle Co.

West Rutland, VT

Bedford, NY

Santa Barbara

FayetteCounty

St. Lucie County

Riley Co.University Park, MD

Bainbridge Island

Connecticut Innovations

Charlotte, NC

Better Buildings Communities Served

= Round 1

= SEEA = Statewide Program

= Round 2

• Financing Options & Sustainability:– Approaches include revolving loan funds, on-bill financing,

carbon offsets, white tags, forward capacity markets– Importance of sustainable programs after grant

• Leveraging:– Target 5:1– Contributions from building owners, partners & in-kind,

project revenues, other federal & state funds• Partners

– Innovative & creative / public and private– Utilities, regional planning agencies, businesses, financial

institutions, universities, NGOs, state energy offices, and more

BetterBuildings Program Elements

• Outreach Approaches:– Neighborhood sweeps– Door-to-door– Community organizations

(churches, foundations)– Major events– Web-based approaches– One stop shops– Labeling systems– Retail store partnerships– Grass-roots campaigns– Community colleges &

universities

BetterBuildings Program Elements

• Promotes large scale neighborhood and commercial districts retrofits

• Unique Approaches:– Energy Concierge Program through city libraries– Neighborhood canvassing and sweeps– “Two Techs and a Truck” Program provide contractor

referral, bulk purchasing, work schedule• Financing: Microloans, rebates, statewide debt service reserve

fund• Partners: Governor’s Energy Office, the Denver Regional

Council of Governments, the Metro Mayors Caucus

Example: Boulder County, Colorado Retrofit Ramp-Up Project

• Initiative creates a model for energy efficiency upgrades that meet historic preservation standards

• Unique approaches– Retrofits of historic downtown buildings– Project financing is a mix of utility rebates, owner contribution

and grants and loans– Promoting the program through a range of media and public

relations strategies utilizing established city marketing and public relations programs

• Financing: Revolving loan fund, rebates, in-kind service such as free audits

• Partners :National Grid, University of Mass, Lowell Development and Financial Corporation, National Park Service, Lowell Historic Board.

Example: Carbon Neutral Lowell Park and Preservation

• This project will deliver large-scale adoption of energy efficiency building retrofits in a diversity of communities

• Unique approaches:– Residential Neighborhood Retrofit Program will run six

pilots/year in diverse communities– Pilots will test different outreach/marketing approaches,

including “energy outreach organizers”, neighborhood savings competitions, energy savings guarantees, labels

• Financing: Revolving loan fund. Loan loss reserve fund, interest rate buy-down, bulk purchasing

• Partners: Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, Michigan Saves, Inc.

Example: Michigan Retrofit Ramp-Up Initiative

• The Energize Phoenix Project is intended to transform neighborhoods along a 10 mile stretch of Phoenix’s Green Rail Corridor

• Unique Approaches:– Coordinate with existing utility program outreach and

smart metering deployment – Provide targeted marketing and encourage energy

conservation action through grass roots outreach campaign

– Develop a local workforce capable of implementing energy efficiency retrofits through job training and workforce development by local community college system

• Partners: Arizona State University, APS, AZ State Energy Office, Maricopa Community College District.

Phoenix-Transformation through Behavior and Retrofits along the Green Rail Corridor

For More Information

Press release: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/vice-

president-biden-kicks-five-days-earth-day-activities-with-announcement-major-n

Danielle Sass Byrnett, Program Managerdanielle.byrnett@ee.doe.gov,

Coming soon: www.betterbuildings.energy.gov