REALIZE-CA: Mass Deployment Model for Zero Net Carbon Retrofits
Low income Californians face a disproportionate energy burden spending up to three times as much of their income on energy compared to median households. Low-income multifamily buildings house more than three million Californians. At the same time, residential building stock in California currently accounts for approximately 10% of the state’s carbon emissions.
Addressing these challenges has proven difficult due to a number of persistent barriers in the efficiency sector such as building owner mistrust in achieving savings, high upfront costs, project complexity and lack of industry know-how, split incentives between building owners and tenants, and a fragmented value chain.
But the pressure is mounting, as California has set aggressive energy efficiency and carbon reduction goals enacting the policies necessary to achieve those goals. We can drive a sustainable manufacturing revolution by re-focusing efforts from building new, to rebuilding what we already have. California’s multifamily building housing market is the perfect place to start.