State and Local Spotlight - August 2023
Office of State and Community Energy Programs | U.S. Department of Energy
Improving Access to Clean and Efficient Energy for States, Tribal Nations, and Community-Serving Organizations
August 2023 Director’s Message
We are coming to the time of year that marks the completion of a season.? Labor Day is approaching which marks the end of summer.? Labor Day is an occasion to celebrate the vital contributions of workers in this country.? It is a time for cookouts and gatherings to celebrate with family and friends.? It is also a time to celebrate coworkers. I want to begin this message by celebrating my colleagues and coworkers at the U.S. Department of Energy who work tirelessly on behalf of the American people every day, through every season.? This is also a time of significance for two reasons: July marked my one-year anniversary leading the Department’s Office of State and Energy Programs, or SCEP. And August marks the one-year anniversary of the most transformative set of policies relating to the environmental, public health and economic benefits of our nation – the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law August 16, 2022.
SCEP: One Year After the Inflation Reduction Act
One year ago, the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was the wind beneath the wings of clean energy. The Act lifted the efforts to modernize the American energy system and allowed new technologies, innovations, and incentives to take flight. More than $430 billion was invested to lower energy costs for American households and businesses, spark clean energy innovation, improve human health, improve our energy security, and mitigate climate change.
In This Issue
Energy Future Grants (EFG) Provides $27 Million in Financial and Technical Assistance to Support Local, State, and Tribal Government-Led Partnerships
In support of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is?opening applications for the $27 million Energy Future Grants program . Energy Future Grants will encourage local, tribal, and state governments to partner and build ideas that will benefit disadvantaged communities.
This program, led by DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), anticipates making approximately 50 awards under this funding opportunity, with each awardee team potentially receiving approximately $500,000 in federal funding. Applicants are required to submit a Community Benefits Plan outlining how the project will achieve four goals: (1) support community and labor engagement, (2) invest in the American workforce, (3) promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and (4) contribute to the President’s goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities (the Justice40 Initiative).
Applications are due?September 30, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET. Visit the?Energy Future Grants ?webpage to stay up to date on program announcements.
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Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program Launches Community Energy Fellows
DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program is excited to launch the Community Energy Fellowship (formerly the Field Fellows Program). This is a unique opportunity for eligible EECBG Program local governments and tribes to host a full-time, DOE-sponsored fellow to support their EECBG Program project for 18 months.
By hosting a Fellow, local and Tribal governments will bolster their EECBG Program Projects, gain new perspectives, and accelerate the national transition to resilient and affordable clean energy. Fellows will build experience in public sector clean energy deployment at the community level. They may work on projects including energy efficiency, electric vehicle technology, renewable energy, and more! Fellowships are coordinated through Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) .
There are two application rounds:
Additional questions about Community Energy Fellows? Submit them to [email protected] .
It’s not too late to submit a Pre-Award Information Sheet for the EECBG Program!
Eligible entities can still submit Pre-Award Information Sheet for the EECBG Program. This non-binding document is required for all entities pursuing a formula allocation and serves as an important first step in the application process.
You can view the Pre-Award Information Sheet, application instructions, and allocation amounts on the EECBG Program Formula Grant Application Hub . Completed Pre-Award Information Sheets and additional questions can be sent to [email protected] .
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DOE Launches Program to Expand State and Local Capacity for Renewable Energy Planning, Siting, and Permitting
DOE launched a new initiative to support states and local communities as they plan for and evaluate proposed development of large renewable energy facilities. The?Renewable Energy Siting through Technical Engagement and Planning (R-STEP) program ?will support the creation of new, or the expansion of existing, state-based programs or initiatives that improve renewable energy planning and siting processes for local communities.
Through R-STEP, DOE anticipates awarding approximately five to seven state-based collaboratives (Collaboratives) between $1-$2 million each to expand state and local capacity on large-scale renewable energy siting and planning. Collaboratives will also benefit from tailored technical assistance and peer-learning opportunities through the program, and R-STEP will serve as a platform for Collaboratives to share learnings and best practices with other stakeholders.
Read more about program requirements and funds here .
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DOE Launches Round 2 of the?American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize
Round 2 of the?American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize: Accessing Capital to Deploy Equitable Community Solar ?launched in July 2023. The $10 million prize from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful?community solar ?projects. The goal of this prize is to expand a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States.
The prize consists of three phases—Ready!, Set!, and Grow!—with up to 25 winners selected in each round. Individually, each competitor can win up to $400,000 over the course of the prize:
Learn more about the?Community Power Accelerator Prize and download the rules ?for the competition.
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Lessons from the Centennial State: Addressing Colorado's Energy Burden
With support from the DOE’s State Energy Program (SEP) , the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) conducted a study on energy cost burdens across the state. The study identified key recommendations to inform future policies.?
Throughout the United States, low-income households often spend a larger portion of their income on energy bills compared to other income groups due to a variety of reasons. Household incomes vary more widely than household energy consumption, and more affluent income brackets have easier access to more efficient technologies. Although Colorado has more affordable electricity and gas rates than other states, energy cost burdens still impact many communities in the state.?
In 2021, CEO with support from SEP, conducted a study,?Pathways to Energy Affordability in Colorado , to assess the energy cost burdens—the amount of household income spent on electricity and fuel use—across the state and inform strategies to achieve energy affordability. Alleviating access to energy and saving residents money were key drivers of the study as authors from Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research set out to determine how to accurately measure the energy burden in Colorado. ?
Read more about addressing Colorado’s Energy Burden here .
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EPA’s Investing in America: Climate Action Funding Resource Guide Now Available
EPA hosted the?Investing in America: Climate Action Funding Fair?online the week of August 7, 2023. Representatives from various federal agencies, academia, and non-profit organizations presented their insights on key funding programs and shared ideas on opportunities for leveraging complementary incentives.?
The fair was a virtual series of events designed to assist states, local governments, Tribes, and territories to effectively identify, navigate, and prepare to leverage the many federal funding opportunities available as they develop climate action plans as required under EPA’s?Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) ?program. Attendees gained a better understanding of the many funding opportunities available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as how they may interact to achieve greater outcomes. ?
To complement the?Investing in America: Climate Action Funding Fair, the?Investing in America: Climate Action Funding Resource Guide ?is now available! This Guide identifies a variety of tracking tools as well as provides an extensive list of federal funding programs that reduce greenhouse gases.?
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Continue Learning with the PCNRC Training Certificate Series
School is back in session and three new accredited and interactive modules of the PCNRC Training Certificate Series are now available on-demand!
The Training Certificate Series provides foundational instruction on energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) to support users in developing their ESPC expertise. The latest trainings walk through the ESPC project development and construction process, and bring users access to 7 of 8 planned chapters.
Check out the one-page overview of the training series to learn about key takeaways, topics, and who should attend.
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DOE Releases a New?Report?on the?One-Year Anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act
DOE’s latest report “Investing in American Energy: Significant Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on the U.S. Energy Economy and Emissions Reductions” describes the key results from new analysis on the impacts of IRA and BIL in OP-NEMS, a customized version of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). By the end of this decade, President Biden's Investing in America agenda is positioned to:
While there are many pathways to reach climate targets, three of the key pillars to achieve net-zero are to increase energy efficiency, decarbonize electricity, and electrify end uses and switch to other clean fuels all while ensuring benefits and costs of the transition are equitably distributed. This new analysis highlights how IRA and BIL leverage these pathways to make significant progress. Read the full report?here .
领英推荐
New DOE Issue Brief Provides Insights and Analysis from C-PACE Program Administrators and Capital Providers
Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing supports energy savings, economic development opportunities, and greater resiliency in the built environment. Some states with active C-PACE programs have ramped up activity significantly while others have not achieved and sustained a high volume of transactions. This brief details C-PACE project origination trends, barriers, and market practices for state and local government C-PACE program sponsors looking to grow their C-PACE project pipeline.
This brief, Commercial PACE Project Origination: Leverage Points for Growing the Project Pipeline , provides new information on project origination trends and strategies for how state and local governments and third-party partners can increase the volume of projects leveraging C-PACE financing. This issue brief is the third in a series of DOE and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)- produced briefs intended to inform state and local governments about specific barriers to adopting or implementing C-PACE programs. The issue briefs are informed by input from participants in DOE’s C-PACE Working Group, which includes state and local governments, third-party program administrators, capital providers, and many other organizations.
For readers unfamiliar with C-PACE and the role of state and local governments, consider starting with a foundational C-PACE resource prepared by DOE and LBNL, Lessons in Commercial PACE Leadership: The Path from Legislation to Launch .
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DOE Announces 2023 Housing Innovation Award Winners
Since 2013, the DOE Housing Innovation Awards have honored the very best in innovation on the path to zero energy ready homes by recognizing forward-thinking builders delivering American homebuyers with a better homeowner experience.?
The 2023 Housing Innovation Awards winners have been selected and can be found here . Grand Winners from?each award category ?will be selected and honored at the 2023 Housing Innovation Awards?ceremony will be held at the?EEBA?High Performance Home Summit , October 10-12, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Take a virtual tour of past Housing Innovation Award winners on the?DOE Tour of Zero ! Read more about award winners here .
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DOE Recognizes 14 Organizations for Excellence in Commercial Lighting
DOE’s 2023?Integrated Lighting Campaign ?(ILC) recognized 11 organizations for exemplary commitment to energy efficiency and environmental responsibility in their buildings, and three organizations for exhibiting exemplary support and advocacy for this work. Partners were recognized on August 5 at the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) annual conference for projects that showcase how lighting system upgrades can lead to significant energy savings and create more comfortable, productive, and environmentally responsible spaces.
Now in its third year,?the ILC is part of DOE’s?Better Buildings Initiative ?and designed to demonstrate that integrated lighting systems enable deeper energy savings in buildings and create an enhanced user and occupant experience. In 2023, the ILC added new categories that?highlight the potential of novel lighting technologies to contribute to energy equity, sustainability, and indoor air quality in commercial and public buildings.
Read more about the organizations that were recognized here .
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DOE Announces $28 Million for 10 Projects to Decarbonize the Nation’s Water Treatment Sector
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE)?Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office ?(IEDO) announced $28 million for 10 projects that will drive innovation to decarbonize the entire life cycle of Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs). These facilities, which treat wastewater from public water systems, are among the country’s largest industrial electricity users with full lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on par with direct emissions from the entire food and beverage industry— one of the largest GHG-emitting industries in the United States.
The selected projects will accelerate research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of technologies to lower GHG emissions from WRRFs and move the U.S. closer to a net-zero economy by 2050.
For more information on the ten selected projects, please click here .
DOE Awards $46 Million from the Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) Funding to 29 Projects Across 15 States
In support of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, DOE announced $46 million for 29 projects across 15 states to develop advanced building technologies and retrofit practices that enable healthier households and communities and reduce energy waste. The Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) funding opportunity will help advance cost-effective solutions to successfully electrify buildings across the nation while also improving their energy efficiency and demand flexibility.
DOE works to reduce the energy intensity and related carbon emissions of homes and commercial buildings by supporting cost-effective technologies and practices, and these selected projects will drive innovations that help drive breakthroughs and continued progress. More than half of the 29 projects selected will pursue advancements to improve space conditioning and water heating, which accounts for just over half of all energy use in American homes. The remaining projects will help advance other components impacting homes and commercial buildings.??
For more information and a full list of selected projects, please?click here .??For more information on DOE’s activities that support building technology innovation, visit the?Emerging Technologies program
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Calling the Next Sustainable Building Professionals—Register for the Solar Decathlon 2024 Design Challenge
Are you a student or professor interested in transforming buildings to tackle the climate crisis? The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon ? is seeking collegiate student participants from diverse majors to join the next round of the zero energy building design competition. Students from collegiate institutions in the United States and around the world are encouraged to form interdisciplinary teams and register!
The Design Challenge is an annual collegiate competition challenging interdisciplinary teams to create high-performance, low-carbon building designs that address real-world issues such as climate resilience, affordability, and environmental justice. Design a sustainable retrofit of an existing building or a new construction building in one of the following Divisions: single-family housing; attached housing; multifamily building; and education building.
The 2024 Design Challenge Rules provide more information and detail the 10 contests that make up the Decathlon.
Register your team for the 2024 Design Challenge today! Registration closes on October 18, 2023, at 5 p.m. EDT.
Join us for the 2024 Design Challenge Kickoff Webinar on September 5, 2023, at 1 p.m. EDT to learn more
Events
September 5 I 1pm - 2pm ET
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September 6 I 1pm - 2pm ET
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September 7 I 12pm - 2pm ET
September 14 I 12pm - 2pm ET
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September 14 I 1pm - 2pm ET
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September 19 I 3pm - 4pm ET
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September 21-22 | Atlanta, GA
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September 26 | Washington, DC
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October 10-12 | Salt Lake City, UT
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October 16-18 | Philadelphia, PA
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