ICAST Experts Weigh In: Housing Policy Priorities for 2024

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By Kristen Cheriegate: Senior Policy Analyst | Ms. Cheriegate navigates ICAST through the policy world to obtain real-world solutions, funding resources, and networks with potential partners to provide more services to low- and moderate-income households. ICAST’s mission never falters, and we continue to scale the delivery of green solutions to positively impact vulnerable households in low-income and disadvantaged communities (LIDACs). In …

How Programs Can Navigate Aggressive Change to Achieve Deep Energy Savings in Multifamily

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Rapid market, regulatory, and policy evolutions are creating opportunities for utilities to coordinate with key stakeholders to identify and harness untapped methods of achieving their program goals. The U.S. is beginning to see a slow transition away from natural gas-based efficiency measures as electrification has emerged as a leading decarbonization strategy and a growing pathway for utility energy efficiency programs. …

March 2024 Policy Blog

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  Kristen Cheriegate  |  ICAST Policy Analyst ========== States Pledge to Boost Heat Pump Sales An agreement was signed by environmental agencies in nine states, calling for electric heat pumps to comprise 90% of residential heating, air conditioning, and water heating sales in the signatory states by 2040. Though not legally binding, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) holds that these …

Tapping Grants, Loans, and Incentives to Cut Project Costs

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by Ravi Malhotra How should the multifamily affordable housing market ensure it maximizes its benefits from the various federal, state, and local government resources on offer? Government programs typically do not consider or emphasize strategic and meaningful leveraging and collaboration with other programs, much less provide valuable guidance to do so. The lack of coordination within and between agencies and …

ICAST Secures ERA Funding for Electric Coop and Tribe 

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DENVER, CO, February 29, 2024 – ICAST (International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology), a 501c3 nonprofit, was awarded $10 million under the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program to install a 5 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) and 10 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) on Taos Pueblo lands in New Mexico, served …

ICAST Grows Library of Resources for Driving Green Retrofits in Multifamily Housing

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Recommendations for Federal and State Agencies: ICAST has created a dedicated webpage containing resources to help federal and state agencies working to expend their Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding on residential markets, especially income-qualified residents. These resources show how and why programs focused on multifamily housing—specifically, multifamily affordable housing—offer the best solution because they are …

ICAST Experts Weigh In: The State of Solar & Storage Markets

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Sam Lipman | Director of Solar Programs Mr. Lipman is responsible for developing shared solar projects, thus furthering ICAST’s work to help underserved communities benefit from clean energy solutions.  Looking at the solar landscape today, we’re seeing innovations in solar and storage laying the groundwork for increased efficiency and reduced costs. Further, since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed …

Electric Poles at sunset

February 2024 Policy Blog

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Kristen Cheriegate  |  ICAST Policy Analyst Funding Announced for States and Tribes to Modernize Power Grid The Biden-Harris Administration has announced $562 million for fiscal year 2024 under the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grant program. This program is designed to help modernize the electric grid to reduce the impacts of climate change while ensuring the reliability of the …

Multifamily Housing building

Pulling Federal Investment into Multifamily Housing

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By Ravi Malhotra Originally published in NH&RA Tax Credit Advisor, February 2024 Most federal and state agencies aiming to spend their Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds for residential clients are finding out that it will not be easy. Most do not think of multifamily affordable housing when they design their residential programs. In focusing on …

Clean Energy for All: Optimizing Beneficial Electrification for Customers

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Originally published in AESP’s Energy Intel Magazine – Q4 2023 Issue “Beneficial electrification” involves transitioning customers away from energy-inefficient and harmful appliances such as gas- and propane-based HVAC, water heaters, cook stoves, and clothes dryers (and even resistance electric systems), to better, high-efficiency, solutions such as heat pump HVAC and Water heaters and induction cook stoves. While this can reduce …