Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Blog”
Ensuring Multifamily Benefits from the Push By Ravi Malhotra Tax Credit Advisor, August 2023 Since early 2023, ICAST’s articles have covered the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and their potential impacts on multifamily affordable housing. The BIL provided billions for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) on top of the standard allocation, so for the next four …
Since 2019, ICAST has been working with the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Office to implement Project SunLight, an initiative to overcome the hurdles of deploying solar PV in MFAH. MFAH has been chronically underserved by clean energy programs, denying the low-income tenants access to green solutions that could reduce their utility bills and improve their quality of …
By Rob Foley | Technical Solutions Specialist Mr. Foley supports the organization with his expertise in energy auditing, capital need assessments, and energy modeling. New incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have elevated high-efficiency heat pump HVAC technology in our news feeds and conversations. ICAST has been promoting and installing these systems for years because we recognized their potential …
Kristen Cheriegate | ICAST Policy Analyst ******************* Update on Biden Administration’s Investing in America Tour President Biden and team recently toured the U.S. to directly communicate with communities impacted by his Investing in America Agenda. During the tour, the President discussed how federal investments including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) are driving a manufacturing and …
A Department of Energy-funded program is providing free online education and training on the safety and installation of solar, energy storage, electric vehicle supply equipment, and high-performance buildings (a group of technologies collectively called, “distributed energy resources,” or DERs). The EMPOWERED program, this initiative offers videos, guides, CEU-bearing courses, and more on two websites: CleanEnergyTraining.org and CleanEnergyClearinghouse.org. The EMPOWERED resources …
Kristen Cheriegate | ICAST Policy Analyst ******************* IRS and Treasury Release Additional Guidance on Low-Income Community Credit Program The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Treasury recently closed the comment period on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the low-income communities’ bonus energy investment credit program. Established under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), this Program is designed to …
A New Generation of Heat Pump Systems Increases Efficiency By Ravi Malhotra Tax Credit Advisor, July 2023 More and more states have regulations and mandates requiring multifamily affordable housing properties to decarbonize (i.e., replace the use of natural gas, oil, or propane with electricity). This can be accomplished by upgrading systems for space and water heating. Electric heat pumps are …
Jeff Hargis | ICAST Senior Technical Project Manager Mr. Hargis supports the organization by leveraging his expertise in energy efficiency, distributed energy resources, and project management to help drive ICAST’s green retrofit projects. Heat pumps for space and water heating are receiving growing attention in the U.S. as a means of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing utility costs. More …
If you follow ICAST’s blog, you know we have been hard at work leveraging opportunities created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to scale green solutions in underserved communities. For example, as previously reported, the BIL provided $3.2B for the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) on top of the $1.6B standard WAP …
Heat pumps for space conditioning and water heating are an increasingly important part of ICAST’s efforts to deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits in the multifamily housing market. Heat pump HVAC systems provide heating and cooling, transferring heat from one area to another rather than generating heat. They can be several times more efficient than conventional space heating and cooling …