The U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office has announced the Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP) Phase 1 winners, and we were among the teams chosen to move on to Phase 2. Buildings UP offers more than $22 million in cash prizes and technical assistance over several phases to accelerate the deployment of equitable, widespread energy efficiency and efficient building electrification upgrades. Our team joins 45 total teams chosen as Phase 1 winners in one of two pathways: Equity-Centered Innovation and Open Innovation. We submitted our concept to the Equity-Centered Innovation Pathway pathway. Phase 1 winners in the Equity-Centered Innovation Pathway each receive $400,000 in cash prizes. Phase 1 winners in the Open Innovation Pathway each receive $200,000 in cash prizes. All teams will also receive technical assistance to create a pilot plan from their concepts in Phase 2. 

Community Power will partner with Cooperative Energy Futures to upgrade 2,000-plus Minnesota homes by creating access to upfront capital, data integration, and providing community-trusted support through a navigator position.

“We received an unprecedented number of submissions to this prize, demonstrating nationwide enthusiasm for developing solutions that drive scalable building energy efficiency and electrification upgrades across the country,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE). “No two buildings have the same upgrade needs due to variations in size, use, age, location, and more. Phase 1 winning teams developed robust initiative concepts that center equity and will accelerate energy upgrades in a wide range of buildings. We look forward to seeing these Phase 1 concepts take shape in the next phase of this prize.”

Thirty-nine teams in the Equity-Centered Innovation Pathway were selected to move onto Phase 2 of the prize for their concepts to deliver scalable and replicable upgrades to buildings in disadvantaged communities, low- and moderate-income households, and underserved commercial, nonprofit, and public buildings.

We look forward to beginning the planning process and bringing our initiative to life! Learn more about the prize, our concept, and the winning teams: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/doe-awards-22-million-advance-equitable-energy-efficiency-and-electrification

A new Minnpost Article from the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) unveils the start findings.

A typical CenterPoint customer, for example, can expect to pay an extra $85 each month in delivery fees by 2040 – more than triple the current amount. And that does not even include any potential increases in the cost of the gas itself.

CUB’s excellent more in-depth report on the same issue, is here.  

In a ruling on June 1^st, the MN Public Utilities Commission granted Xcel Energy a much smaller electricity rate increase than it initially asked for after a coalition of energy equity advocates intervened in the case and testified for affordability.

Xcel initially requested a 21 percent increase request. But the MN PUC ultimately granted Xcel Energy slightly less than half of that- agreeing to a 9.6 percent rate increase (over three years). In terms of total dollar numbers, the MN PUC allowed Xcel to collect an additional $306 million in revenue from its customers over the next three years.

CenterPoint Energy executives and investors scuttled a proposal that would have required more robust and transparent emissions tracking. This is in conflict with net-zero commitments made by the utility, and with the reality that massive emissions reductions are needed to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

CenterPoint explicitly opposed the measure, brought forward by some of its investors, which would have required it to comprehensively assess customers’ end use (or “Scope 3”) emissions and set targets for reducing those emissions. Scope 3 emissions account for more than 80% of CenterPoint's total emissions, and the utility sidestepping this critical category raises serious questions about its commitment to net-zero emissions. 

CenterPoint’s refusal to more fully address emissions from gas use in customers’ homes and businesses, and take steps more meaningful to reduce them, complicates decarbonization goals held by communities served by CenterPoint. Notably, this includes the state of Minnesota and many Minnesota cities -- especially Minneapolis, with whom CenterPoint has committed in a shared Clean Energy Partnership work plan to "decarbonize homes via electrification and energy efficiency retrofits." The utility’s resistance to prioritizing these emissions reductions in its corporate goal-setting is in conflict with this commitment.

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