The Latest and Zero Building Energy Codes program is being administered through the DOE's Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), and is funded by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which contains $1 billion to modernize America's building stock through state and local action on building codes and save Americans money on their energy bills, while making buildings more resilient to extreme weather events.
Homes built today's energy codes are nearly 40% more efficient than homes built just 15 years ago, dramatically cutting energy costs for consumers. If all states updated to the latest model energy codes, over the course of 30 years, this action would save enough energy to power all households in the United States for a full year.
Switching to the updated energy codes would equate to almost 2 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions reduction, the equivalent of removing over 445 million gas-powered cars from the road over the same 30 years.
This Latest and Zero Building Energy Codes Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is open to states, territories and units of local government that have the authority to adopt building codes, and follows an earlier formula funding announcement for states and territories.
This new competitive funding opportunity expands the pool of eligible grantees to include certain localities and expands qualifying activities to include customized codes and innovative code approaches such as building performance standards. These funding streams are designed to provide flexibility in response to the broad variety of jurisdictional circumstances, allowing eligible grantees to pursue a pathway that fits their state and local context.
Using this funding, states and localities can coordinate to develop a workforce with skills of the latest building technologies, including how to properly install and operate to deliver affordable, healthy buildings. This represents an opportunity to create local, place-based jobs – bringing the community into the effort to improve their own homes, community centers, and offices.
This opportunity will also support states, territories and localities in creating more inclusive programs that align with the President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, while ensuring that nonprofits, industry leaders, and states are prepared to deliver the energy efficiency projects needed to decarbonize buildings and create inclusive workforce training initiatives.
Eligible states, territories, or units of local governments with the authority to adopt building codes can submit brief concept papers, which are required in order to submit a full application, due February 9, 2024 – full applications are due April 30, 2024.
