By Santul Nerkar and Madeleine Ngo Originally published in The New York Times, Nov. 9, 2023 More Americans are buying heat pumps, an environmentally friendly alternative to furnaces and air-conditioners that can significantly lower monthly energy bills. But the pace of installations has slowed in the past year, posing an obstacle to the Biden administration’s climate plans. Rising interest rates and inflation combined …
Case Study: IRA, BIL Bringing Big Pots of Money to Green Affordable Housing
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
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
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 …
ICAST Team Members Attend NASEO Annual Meeting
In October, ICAST sent three representatives—CEO Ravi Malhotra, Director of Grant Programs Ryan Kristoff, and Senior Policy Analyst Kristen Cheriegate—to the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. During this event, our team engaged with State Energy Office officials from various states, delving into crucial topics such as emerging EPA initiatives like Solar for All, …
ICAST Experts Weigh In: How to Bring Quality Retrofits to the Multifamily Market
Monica Paici | Director of Marketing Ms. Paici supports the organization by developing marketing plans, implementing promotional programs for ICAST’s work, and overseeing the design and distribution of ICAST publications. If you have been following our coverage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), you know that ICAST has been working to educate housing and energy …
October 2023 Policy Blog
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 …
TBL Fund Experts Weigh In: Scaling Clean Energy Projects on Tribal Lands
By Scott Griffin | Business Development, TBL Fund Mr. Griffin oversees TBL Fund grant and investment lifecycles. He fosters relationships with investors and grantors alike, helping develop proposals and managing document and information exchange to ensure TBL Fund has the financial resources to further its mission. Climate change threatens Tribal homelands, food sources, cultural resources, and sacred ways of life. …
Accessing Green Upgrades with EPA and HUD Funds
By Ravi Malhotra Tax Credit Advisor, September 2023 As we near the end of the year, federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are finalizing the design of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)-created programs and releasing more and more of the funds. Many of …
September 2023 Policy Blog
Kristen Cheriegate | ICAST Policy Analyst ******************* Inflation Reduction Act Arrives at One-Year Anniversary The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) directed over $369B toward incentives for nearly every corner of the clean energy industry. A year later – nearly $200B in tax credits stand at the center of IRA’s goals to clean up the two biggest sources of U.S. greenhouse gas …