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Citywide Retrofitting Resources

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Resources for developing citywide energy efficiency retrofit programs

To understand policies for city-scale retrofitting, we recommend you begin by reading the following report: A Short Guide to Setting up a City-Scale Retrofit Program by Green For All and COWS (June 2009).

A Short Guide to Setting Up a City Scale Retrofit


We also recommend listening to audio recordings of conference calls from the "Retrofit America's Cities" Community of Practice, as well as the Efficiency Cities Network calls.

Below we have linked to resources that have been recommended or provided by members of the Retrofit America's Cities working group. If you have a resource to recommend here, please email a description along with a link to ladan(at)greenforall.org

General Reference


  • Efficiency Cities Network: An informal policy learning network of government staff, researchers and technical assistance providers, and NGOs currently active in or committed to making scaled efforts at high-road (i.e., concerned with equity and democracy, not just sustainability) energy retrofits (seeking increased energy efficiency, conservation, and clean generation) of urban building stock.

  • Emerald Cities: A national national effort to build “emerald” cities: high-road cities committed to greening their economies in equitable and democratically accountable ways.  Eyes on the Prize: Program Architecture of Emerald Cities by Gerry Hudson, Joel Rogers, and Phil Thompson outlines ways to take "high-road" approaches to greening the economies of US cities. It provides a national perspective on coalition-building between community and labor.

  • Enabling Investments in Energy Efficienc: by Merrian Fuller, August 2008. Commissioned and supported by Efficiency Vermont, this excellent report studies programs that eliminate first cost barriers for energy efficiency investments in the residential sector. The report is a good primer for anyone looking for detailed guidance on the various financing options for retrofit programs, the challenges and benefits with each option, as well as case studies of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs around the country.

City Retrofit Programs


  • Clean Energy Works Portland: This innovative pilot program in Portland, Oregon enables homeowners to access low-interest, long-term financing for easy and affordable investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to their homes.  Homeowners will pay back the cost of the investments on their utility bills.  Green For All worked with the City of Portland to create a Community Workforce Agreement to ensure job quality and access for the jobs created as a result of this program. See below for enabling legislation in Oregon.

  • Long Island Green Homes Program: The town of Babylon, New York established this innovative program under existing statutory authority for special assessments. The Town passed a resolution expanding its definition of solid waste to include carbon which, in effect, allows the Town to quantify home efficiency based on carbon emissions and then use resources from its solid waste fund to improve energy efficiency in homes. The Babylon model also resembles a Municipal Services Bill model, because customers are billed monthly rather than paying via their property tax bill.


  • Seattle Green Building Task Force: The City of Seattle has launched a Residential Energy Performance Audit Pilot Program and Residential Energy Efficiency Loan Program.  These programs are elements of the Seattle Green Building Capital Initiative.
See also (released upon completion of the Task Force's work):

Policy Resources

  • Guide To Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Financing Districts: This "How To" guide produced by the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at the University of California, Berkeley, provides information and advice on how to launch a Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program in your community. The RAEL website has many excellent resources on how to to establish a PACE program.

  • Berkeley, California Policies and Ordinances: Berkeley was the first city in the nation to require that anyone selling a residential building install conservation measures at time of sale, or whenever improvements valued at more than $50,000 are made to residential property. Cost and energy-saving measures required by Berkeley’s Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) include insulating ceilings, water heaters, and hot water pipes; sealing furnace ducts; installing fluorescent lighting and weather stripping; blocking hot-air flow out of chimneys; and conserving hot water by installing low-flow shower heads. To date, approximately 12,000 residences (30 percent of the housing stock) have been certified as meeting RECO requirements. Berkeley also requires conservation measures in commercial buildings that are sold or substantially renovated. (From Apollo Alliance, New Energy for Cities)

 

  • Solar Powering Your Community: A Guide for Local Governments: The U.S. Department of Energy developed this resource to assist local governments and stakeholders in building sustainable local solar markets. The guide introduces a range of policy and program options that have been successfully field tested in cities around the country. The guide describes each policy or program, explains the benefits, provides implementation tips and options, and includes short examples from local governments across the U.S.  July 2009

  • Carnegie Policy Outlook on Weatherization Assistance Program: Report by the Carnegie Endowment on whether increased funding from the Recovery Act for the DoE Weatherization program can be spent effectively or whether the program is out of date. Looks at whether existing WAP grant recipients will be able to ramp up to spend the Recovery Act money.



  • Green Jobs/Green Homes NY: A policy road map for New York State to achieve mass-scale, energy efficiency retrofits of 1 million housing units over the next 5 years.  Released May 15, 2009 in Washington D.C. by the Center for Working Families in conjunction with the Center for American Progress and Half in Ten.

 

  • Lower Living Standard Income Level (LLSIL) Guidelines: Guidelines from the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration that include income charts used by state and local workforce investment areas to determine income eligibility for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs for youth and certain adult services, in addition to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.

  • Oregon --  bills in state legislature:
  • HB 2626 – Mandates utility on-bill repayment and authorizes Oregon DOE and Oregon Trust to organize related financing and service delivery statewide.
  • HB 2181 – Enables property tax financing.

 

Financing & Repayment Mechanisms Resources

 

 

 

Workforce Development & Job Quality Resources

 

  • Alaska Works Partnership: AWP was formed by Alaska’s construction trade unions to build an Alaska construction workforce.  AWP’s construction training and placement system reaches across Alaska and is open to everyone.  AWP delivers services in partnership with Alaska’s Building Trades unions, the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Denali Training Fund.  They also team with employers, communities, and regional organizations on targeted projects. They find motivated applicants, provide the best training, and match qualified individuals with specific job opportunities.

  • Build It Green is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient building practices in California. It works with mainstream stakeholders in the housing industry to accelerate the adoption of green building practices. Build It Green trains raters to certify homes using the GreenPoint Rated system.  GreenPoint Rated is currently for existing single-family homes; a multi-family rating system is under development.

  • Green Jobs Certifications: This is a living document that lists and links to certifications that green-collar workers can seek.

  • Green Rehabilitation of Multifamily Rental Properties: A Resource Guide by Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Build It Green provides affordable housing owners and administrators with information on incorporating green building and energy efficiency into their multi-unit buildings.  The 58-page guide contains four sections -- site condition and systems, building construction, mechanical systems and interior spaces –- with advice on incorporating the green building principles of energy efficiency, water conservation, resource conservation, and healthy indoor environments.  It also looks at the cost and cost-effectiveness of green strategies to assist affordable housing developers in making decisions about which measures to include in their rehab projects.

Marketing Resources

 

  • California Youth Energy Services: This program of the Rising Sun Energy Center engages young workers to visit homes in their communities to conduct energy audits and offer simple energy-saving repairs. The program hires nearly 90 teenagers each summer from urban neighborhoods in nearby cities, trains them on people skills and energy efficiency practices, and sends them out to homeowners and renters who have requested energy audits.

 

Quality Control & Evaluation Resources


  • Multifamily Pre-Retrofit Tools
    • Guidelines for Preparing a Green Physical Needs Assessment (Aug. 2007) by Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Build It Green: Provides guidelines for multifamily affordable housing providers and their consultants in preparing a Green Physical Needs Assessment.  Provides guidance in developing recommendations for housing rehabilitation that, to the maximum extent possible, incorporate green building principles of energy efficiency, water conservation, resource conservation, and healthy indoor environments. 

Other Resources

 

  • National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP): NASCP is a national association charged with advocating and enhancing the leadership role of states in preventing and reducing poverty.  It provides training and technical assistance to state and local Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) administrators.

 

 

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The Community of Practice web pages were made possible by the generous support of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation (www.mkf.org)