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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 …

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 …

December 2023 Policy Blog

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Kristen Cheriegate  |  ICAST Policy Analyst U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Path to Update Energy Efficiency Standards DOE is required to establish and periodically review minimum energy efficiency standards that products such as light bulbs, clothes dryers, air conditioners, etc., must meet. By law, these standards must save energy, be cost-effective, and be technologically feasible for manufacturers. While energy …

Case Study: IRA, BIL Bringing Big Pots of Money to Green Affordable Housing

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By Mark Fogarty  NH&RA November 2023 If Timed Right, Financial “Braiding” Techniques May Cover Whole Cost of Retrofits There’s a brave new world of opportunities for “green” multifamily affordable housing renovation and development coming with the ever-quickening ascendancy of green buildings. This is according to one of the early adopters of clean energy solutions in multifamily, Ravi Malhotra—founder and president of ICAST. …

ICAST Experts Weigh In: 2023 State Legislative Wrap-Up and Looking Ahead to 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. State legislatures are gearing up to pre-file bills for the 2024 season, but before we close the books on 2023, we wanted to provide some …

November 2023 Policy Blog

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Kristen Cheriegate  |  ICAST Policy Analyst White House Takes Action to Create More Affordable Housing The Biden-Harris Administration has released a fact sheet that highlights new actions to support the conversion of high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use, including through new financing, technical assistance, and the sale of federal properties – creating much-needed affordable housing, energy-efficient, near transit, and good …

October 2023 Policy Blog

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Kristen Cheriegate  |  ICAST Policy Analyst Environmental Protection Agency Updates Solar for All Funding The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has updated the Solar for All (SFA) Notice of Funding Opportunity. The interested applicants requested over $38 billion in funding from the SFA competition. To maximize access to solar energy for low-income (LI) and disadvantaged communities, EPA has revised the maximum …

Man putting money in bank with solar panels behind him

Leveraging Federal, State, and Utility Incentives to Fund Solar

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By Ravi Malhotra / Tax Credit Advisor May 2023 With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the business case for solar-for-multifamily affordable housing is the best it’s ever been. Multifamily properties can leverage Solar Photovoltaic (PV) (and energy storage) to cut utility bills and/or bridge financing gaps.  The IRA increases the baseline Solar Investment Tax Credit …

Multifamily housing building

Green Retrofits Signal the Future in Cities’ Push Towards Decarbonization

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Green Retrofits Signal the Future in Cities’ Push Towards Decarbonization By Abram Mamet / NH&RA April 2023 Green Retrofitting in Practice  Well-considered and meaningfully executed retrofits have become increasingly important as communities across the country seek out effective climate resilience strategies. States like Massachusetts, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania are at the forefront of that movement, having each enacted legislation or …

ICAST Experts Weigh In: Available Federal Tax Credits, Incentives, and Grants for Underserved Communities

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ICAST Experts Weigh In: Available Federal Tax Credits, Incentives, and Grants for Underserved Communities  By Ravi Malhotra: Founder and President| Mr. Malhotra’s focus is finding financially sustainable models to solve the affordable housing crisis while tackling climate change. He manages the design and implementation of all ICAST programs and initiatives. Kristen Cheriegate: Senior Policy Analyst | Ms. Cheriegate navigates ICAST through …