Energy Equity for Homeowners Initiative

Energy Equity for Homeowners Technical Assistance Overview  

Dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings is vital for tackling climate change. Owner-occupied homes are an important piece of the residential building sector, and face different challenges than rental homes. At the same time, historically disinvested communities experience disproportionate impacts of climate change, bear higher burdens of the energy system, and are often excluded from the benefits of the clean energy transition. Successfully reaching an equitable clean energy future will require action that prioritizes these communities. ACEEE’s Energy Equity for Homeowners initiative is helping tackle the challenge of reducing energy waste in owner-occupied housing, particularly for low-income homeowners and homeowners of color. Our goal: protect the climate, reduce energy costs, and preserve housing affordability.  

Participants  

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) is offering no-cost technical assistance services to at least five local governments and their community-based organization (CBO) partners.¹ This opportunity will be focused on those that are seeking to improve the energy performance of local owner-occupied housing while also preserving and/or expanding housing affordability. Technical assistance work must involve CBOs working alongside local governments to ensure that any initiatives launched as a result of this work are guided and influenced by the communities that local governments serve.  

Application and Timeline

Applications for this technical assistance will be released in early September and accepted through November 4th, 2022. Applicants will be asked to characterize the following:  

• Active and planned work to advance owner-occupied energy efficiency, including supporting documentation as applicable 

• Resources or information needed to complete active/planned work  

• Description of how technical assistance will be beneficial  

• Relationship between the applying local government and CBO(s)  

Local government applicants will also be asked to submit a letter of support from participating CBO(s). We will announce our selections in November and will provide an estimated 100 hours of ACEEE staff support services to each participating community over approximately the period of November 2022 to May 2023.  

Activities and Deliverables  

Our technical assistance services for local governments and CBOs will be available to support active or planned work to analyze the housing market, engage community members, determine possible owner-occupied energy efficiency policy options, and implement these initiatives. Technical assistance will primarily focus on growing local governments’ and CBOs’ knowledge, resources, planning and evaluation procedures, and information sharing with one another.  

ACEEE will provide staff time to conduct research, analysis, and other supportive services in efforts that advance equitable energy efficiency initiatives. Our activities can include, but are not limited to, the following:  

• Conducting a scan of existing government policies/programs and their performance to identify new or expanded opportunities for reducing home energy use to supplement the city’s current work  

• Developing procedures to ensure that policy planning and implementation remains accountable to the interests of historically marginalized communities (e.g., applying research from ACEEE’s City Clean Energy Scorecard and the Leading with Equity Initiative)  

• Supporting stakeholder engagement processes (e.g., review engagement plans, conduct stakeholder interviews, prepare and share materials/information for stakeholders, connect stakeholders with ACEEE and other industry experts)  

• Guiding quantitative and qualitative research to assess the pressing needs of owner-occupied housing and homeowners (e.g. analyzing the local housing market to identify relevant trends and opportunities to advance energy efficiency) 

• Outlining policy/program provisions and implementation procedures that will ensure an initiative is adaptable to changing circumstances, particularly those impacting marginalized communities and people of color