Shedding light on types of federal funds and energy upgrades

Tax-exempt organizations:

• Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Materials Pilot Program (IIJA Sec. 40542). A fund of $50M through 2026 for this Department of Energy (DOE) pilot program, which provides nonprofits with grants of up to $200,000 for energy improvements in buildings, including lighting. Through this pilot program, the DOE will identify scalable models for energy efficiency retrofits in both the nonprofit and commercial sectors.
• Renew America’s School grant program facilitates substantial additional investment that intends to prioritize schools with high needs. The program is designed to minimize administrative burden, and build enduring capacity in local educational agencies and the states to maximize impact equity and efficiency. From keeping schools open to investing in infrastructure, this fund provides financial assistance for a variety of necessary projects to school districts across the country.
• Grants for Energy Efficiency Improvements and Renewable Energy Improvements at Public School Facilities (IIJA Sec. 40541). The goal of this competitive grant program is to finance the use of clean energy, and improvements in energy efficiency and indoor air quality (IAQ), in schools. These enhancements to school buildings support lower carbon emissions and promote student health. Relevant eligible beneficiaries:
  A consortium of at least one local education agency and at least one school, nonprofit organization, for-profit organization, or community partner.

○ Eligible improvements covered by these grants include those that result in school energy cost reductions, energy savings, and health improvements.

○ Priority given to schools serving low-income communities that have the greatest renovation, repair, and improvement funding needs, and that can leverage private sector investment through energy-related performance contracting.

• Public School Facilities Grants (IIJA Sec. 40541). Competitive grants to schools and partner organizations (nonprofit and for-profit) over five years (2022-2026) for clean energy improvements at K-12 schools, with priority to schools with renovation/repair needs, lower-income schools, and schools using energy-related performance contracting.

For-profit organizations:

• Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is a financing tool that allows property owners to finance the upfront cost for qualified energy, water, resilience, and public benefit projects with funding through a voluntary assessment on the property tax bill. The local government typically acts as the payment collector and remitter. One of the main benefits of PACE for property owners is it can be used to cover 100 percent of the upfront cost of an energy or resilience upgrade. The investments are then repaid over the useful life of the installed equipment. The longer payback period—and lower annual or semi-annual payments—can make upgrades more affordable for property owners.