The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding

The briefing advocates for increased stimulus funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to combat energy insecurity and racial disparities in the US. It highlights that low-income and non-White households face disproportionately high energy burdens and insecurity. Drawing on the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the document suggests that expanding WAP to include electrification, investing in workforce diversity, and improving administrative coordination can maximize public health and economic benefits.

• Low-income and non-White households in the US experience disproportionate energy insecurity and higher energy burdens. Approximately 45 percent of non-White households, totaling 15 million, face some form of energy insecurity.
• The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is chronically underfunded, reaching less than 1 percent of the 30 million households eligible annually, despite having weatherized over 7.4 million units since 1976.
• The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) demonstrated the efficacy of WAP investment by allocating $2 billion to weatherize over 340,000 homes, resulting in $1.1 billion in energy savings, $4.5 billion in total benefits, and the support of 28,000 jobs.
• To maximize benefits, future WAP stimulus should expand approved measures to include electrification upgrades like heat pumps and induction stoves to improve indoor air quality and health, particularly for those with asthma.
• Sustainable funding is necessary to maintain a stable energy efficiency workforce, as the ARRA experience showed that the workforce and project pipeline contracted rapidly once stimulus funding ended.

APA

RMI (2020). The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding. https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/

Chicago

RMI. The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding |date=26 August 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020wonders, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }