New $22 Million-Plus Prize Lays a Solid Foundation for Equitable Building Energy Upgrades
Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP) Aims To Accelerate Widespread Energy Efficiency and Building Electrification Upgrades
The U.S. building stock consists of more than 123 million homes and 5.9 million commercial buildings. Together, they consume 75% of the nation's electricity and 40% of the nation's total energy and account for 35% of the country's carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, space heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) and water heating in commercial and residential buildings account for more than 60% of energy use.
That equates to a significant challenge to clean-energy and emission-reduction goals.
Across a wide variety of uses, sizes, ages, and climates, existing buildings must be upgraded to be more energy efficient in order to achieve ambitious decarbonization goals. However, that is a complex task and one that has faced many barriers, including cost, lack of technical support and retrofit knowledge, lack of incentives and funding, and lack of knowledge of efficient electrification technologies.
To accelerate the transformation of U.S. buildings into energy-efficient and clean-energy-ready homes, commercial spaces, and communities, the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office launched the multiphase Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP), offering more than $22 million in cash prizes and technical assistance.
Combining Strengths To Construct a Solution
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for building energy upgrades. Programs that deliver energy-efficient upgrade initiatives are not new but thus far have proven to be complicated and costly. Many are unable to scale to meet the demands of diverse building types, are inaccessible to underresourced communities, and lack sufficient support to create trust and buy-in. That is often because the programs were not initially developed with the proper resources to meet the needs of the buildings and communities they were intended to serve.
Buildings UP aims to solve that challenge.
The prize supports the rapid and equitable transformation of U.S. buildings by encouraging multistakeholder teams to collaborate and create innovative building upgrade initiatives.
The goal of bringing together a variety of stakeholders is to combine diverse strengths and mission-critical resources, such as project financing, equipment ownership structures, cost reduction, workforce training, contractor development, alignment with affordable housing constraints, communications, community engagement, and more.
Local governments, tribes, community-based organizations, building owners, utilities, nonprofit organizations, energy efficiency program implementers, and other organizations are encouraged to create cross-sectoral teams and apply.
Not only will these teams' solutions make an impact in their communities, but their plans will also serve as a blueprint for other projects across the United States.
"Buildings UP rewards teams with impactful solutions that address persistent barriers to improving building energy efficiency and reducing on-site emissions," said Sarah Truitt, prize manager in the Building Technologies and Science Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "The ecosystem of solutions developed collectively by winning teams will reduce the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock while maintaining or improving affordability, comfort, and performance."
Building Equitable Innovation
Historically, building upgrade initiatives have not been accessible to underserved communities. At the heart of the Buildings UP mission is breaking energy upgrade barriers for all buildings, no matter where they are or what unique challenges they may present.
The prize creates equitable upgrade opportunities in several ways. Teams can submit innovative solutions to accelerate building upgrades in one of two pathways: "Open Innovation," which focuses on any geographic area or building type, or "Equity-Centered Innovation."
The Equity-Centered Innovation pathway is focused on delivering upgrades to low- and moderate-income homes; small, disadvantaged businesses; and other equity-eligible buildings.
To empower teams with every opportunity to create an equitable, accessible initiative, Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2) provides training and technical assistance to applicants. R2E2 is a partnership of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Elevate, Emerald Cities Collaborative, and HR&A Advisors, and works to advance affordable housing energy upgrades to lower energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions while advancing racial equity, local workforce development, and health goals.
"Home energy upgrades can help address the compounding crises of housing affordability, energy insecurity, and climate change, but building energy upgrade initiatives frequently do not reach those who need them most," said Annika Brindel, director of R2E2. "We are thrilled to be working with prize applicants to guide them in building robust teams and creating concepts with racial and economic equity principles at their core."
In addition to supporting accessible upgrade solutions for buildings no matter their location, size, age, and more, the prize also focuses on equitable team participation. Through the Application Support Prize, up to 50 new and underresourced teams will be awarded $5,000 in cash prizes and 10 hours of technical assistance to help them complete their Phase 1 prize applications.
"From supporting new and underresourced applicants to supporting initiatives that focus on underserved communities, Buildings UP aims to ensure all buildings in every U.S. community can benefit from the solutions generated," Truitt said.
Shaping the Future of Energy-Efficient Buildings
Phase 1 applications are being accepted now through July 18, 2023. Winners in the Open Innovation pathway will each receive a $200,000 cash prize. Winners in the Equity-Centered Innovation Pathway will each receive a $400,000 cash prize. Phase 1 winners in both pathways will advance to Phase 2 and receive technical assistance to bring their concepts to life. Review the official rules for the complete application process and instructions for competing.
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