Upfront costs are one of the major barriers to implementing energy efficiency projects in homes and businesses. Effective financing strategies can minimize these costs to encourage property owners …
Upfront costs are one of the major barriers to implementing energy efficiency projects in homes and businesses. Effective financing strategies can minimize these costs to encourage property owners to invest in energy-saving improvements and retrofits. This financing may be offered by various entities including utilities, federal, state, and local governments, and energy service companies (ESCOs). In addition, private equity entities have become increasingly interested in funding packages of energy efficiency projects. Despite promising signs, however, energy efficiency financing has ebbed and flowed over the past few decades due to its complexity and challenges for which resolutions are still evolving.
This toolkit section provides an introduction to existing financing mechanisms, their benefits and drawbacks, and related resources such as ACEEE’s annual Energy Efficiency Finance Forum. Topics include:
Bridging the Equity Gap for Utility Energy Efficiency Programs
Utility energy efficiency programs have increased investment in low-income households, but significant gaps remain. This report examines spending and savings trends across 48 major U.S. utilities, identifies barriers to expanding low-income programs and highlights policies and program strategies that can improve energy affordability and equitable access to efficiency upgrades.
Efficiency Saves: Cutting Energy Waste Can Save $31,000 per Household
The United States faces interlocking energy challenges: rising home energy bills and gasoline prices; new demand for electricity from data centers and other loads; high greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Now, a new era of energy efficiency progress in our buildings, transportation, and industry is needed to meet this moment. This wide-ranging study finds a massive opportunity.
Congress Can Cut Freight Costs and Consumer Prices by Addressing Key Issues in the BUILD America 250 Act
The BUILD America 250 Act, advanced by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, would eliminate or weaken many programs that help lower transportation …
Maximizing State Transportation Investments: How Redirecting Spending from Highway Expansion to Public Transit Supports Economies and Communities
Costs to deliver transportation projects have risen drastically in recent years. To avoid wasteful spending, each new dollar invested in transportation infrastructur…
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