Technical Assistance Grants for Comprehensive Energy Assessments
Through the Large Building Green Energy Retrofits Program, the City of Boston is offering up to $10,000 to support building owners to learn about their buildings’ energy use and plan changes to save energy.
A Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) is a set of building improvements that cuts the energy use in the building by at least 50 percent. The work often includes:
- better insulation
- air sealing
- new appliances, and
- even the installation of rooftop solar panels.
Through the Large Building Green Energy Retrofits Program, the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) is offering assistance to save energy in large, affordable multifamily housing. This includes up to $10,000 for technical assistance grants to offset the cost of evaluating the current energy use of a building and determining what it will take to complete a DER. Technical Assistance grant applications are due by March 31, 2024.
The owners of eligible large, affordable multifamily housing buildings can follow the steps outlined below to apply for a technical assistance grant.
Benefits
Deep Energy Retrofits will help protect existing affordable housing and tenants by:
- Improving health and safety for building occupants with better indoor air quality and living conditions
- Improving comfort for building occupants with better systems for heating and cooling their homes
- Enabling other building improvements and increasing the long-term climate change preparedness of a building
Technical Assistance Grants for comprehensive energy assessments will help the owners of large, multifamily affordable housing buildings to:
- Establish the current performance of the building and map out a set of steps to achieve significant energy savings
- Learn how to reduce the energy consumption of the building through a targeted set of improvements
- Learn how to reduce the carbon emissions footprint of the building, in alignment with the goals of the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO)
How to Apply for Technical Assistance Grants
Interested building owners should:
- Determine if your building is eligible. MOH is accepting applications for properties with:
- at least 15 units, in one or more building;
- at least half of the units restricted to households earning no more than 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI);
- a Capital Needs Assessment completed in the past five years.
- Submit an application. Technical Assistance grant applications are due by March 31, 2024. Should funding remain available after the initial funding round, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, which allows new development teams to apply until funds run out. MOH will determine which applications are eligible, and will evaluate those eligible applications according to building conditions, geographic location, project readiness, and the economic opportunity for Boston residents, persons of color, and women.
- Sign a Grant Agreement. Selected applicants will enter into a Grant Agreement with MOH to support the comprehensive energy assessment. The agreement will specify the maximum funds available and the requirements of the City of Boston.
- Complete the comprehensive energy assessment. Selected applicants will contract directly with a qualified energy assessment firm to complete the comprehensive energy assessment. MOH will review and approve the initial scope of work. We will also confirm that all tasks have been completed in accordance with the approved scope of work.
- Share the results of the assessment. When the comprehensive energy assessment is completed, the applicant team will meet with the assessment firm and MOH staff to review the results, understand the path to achieving a Deep Energy Retrofit, and discuss possible next steps. Those steps could include applying for additional MOH funds.