An Opportunity to Make Home Retrofits More Affordable

The briefing outlines how state energy offices can maximize the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act by enabling the 'stacking' of federal, state, and utility incentives for whole-home retrofits. It identifies key barriers to this process—such as a lack of public guidance, inconsistent program requirements, and excessive application processes—and suggests solutions like standardized eligibility and consolidated applications. Additionally, it encourages states to use flexible funding sources to cover gaps not fully addressed by the IRA, specifically health and safety repairs, cold climate heat pumps, and electrical upgrades.

• State energy offices are central to the deployment of IRA funds, specifically as the primary recipients of $8.8 billion designated for national efficiency and electric appliance rebates.
• Three primary barriers hinder the ability of residents and contractors to stack incentives: a lack of clear public guidance on the order and method of stacking, inconsistent requirements regarding income eligibility and appliance standards across programs, and the impracticality of completing numerous separate applications for a single retrofit.
• To improve incentive uptake, states should implement solutions such as developing public guidance (citing California's 'Switch Is On' and Denver's 'Combining Rebates' pages), standardizing eligibility with utilities and weatherization departments, and combining applications into a single process (citing Colorado's 'Peak' webpage and Philadelphia's 'Built to Last' program).
• The IRA does not completely cover all costs for whole-home retrofits; states can fill these funding gaps using sources like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, and Revolving Loan Fund to support electrical upgrades, cold climate heat pumps, and health and safety repairs.

APA

RMI (2023). An Opportunity to Make Home Retrofits More Affordable. https://rmi.org/resources/an-opportunity-to-make-home-retrofits-more-affordable/

Chicago

RMI. An Opportunity to Make Home Retrofits More Affordable. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/an-opportunity-to-make-home-retrofits-more-affordable/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=An Opportunity to Make Home Retrofits More Affordable |date=6 December 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/an-opportunity-to-make-home-retrofits-more-affordable/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023opportunity, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{An Opportunity to Make Home Retrofits More Affordable}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/an-opportunity-to-make-home-retrofits-more-affordable/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }