Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

The Biden Administration Is Unleashing $20 Billion for Green Banks

Yet another Inflation Reduction Act program launches today.

Money and cute critters.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris and EPA administrator Michael Regan are in Charlotte, North Carolina this morning to announce the award of … wait for it … $20 billion dollars for climate mitigation and adaptation projects. This is the official launch of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act — in fact, it is the single largest and most flexible program in the IRA. (The remaining $7 billion is earmarked for “Solar for All,” a separate initiative that will launch later this year.)

The money will go to eight organizations and help “create a national clean financing network for clean energy and climate solutions.” The awardees include:

  • The Coalition for Green Capital, a nonprofit that got $5 billion to help leverage a network of green lenders. More than 50% of its work under the grant will be aimed at low-income communities.
  • Rewiring America, which will share a $2 billion award with four other housing and community-building groups, including Enterprise Community Partners, LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), Habitat for Humanity, and United Way to create a national financing program to decarbonize housing. The initiative will focus 75% of its investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
  • Community Preservation Corporation, a U.S. Treasury Department-certified community development financial institution and part of an umbrella coalition known as the Climate United Fund. Together with other nonprofit financial institutions, it will receive nearly $7 billion to lend to traditionally underserved populations, including rural and Tribal communities.

The general idea is to funnel the money into green lending programs, colloquially known as “green banks,” that will offer low-cost loans and other financing options for consumers, community organizations, businesses, and local governments. Projects financed through the fund could do everything from residential electrification, to green public transit, to solar on schools, to storm water management.

EPA anticipates the awardees will mobilize $7 of private capital for every $1 of federal funds — a total investment of nearly $150 billion. Each of the winners will get access to their share of the funding in the next six months, and will have until 2031 to use it.

Green

You’re out of free articles.

Use code: LABORDAY to save 20%.
Subscribe to access Heatmap’s exclusive polling and expert analysis of energy, climate change, and sustainability, now just $99/year $79.20/year.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

The Startup Behind Lamppost-Mounted EV Chargers Pulls Into the Garage

Voltpost announced two new models today designed to mount on walls and ceilings.

Voltpost chargers.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Voltpost, the company putting electric vehicle chargers on lampposts, is now expanding to parking garages.

On Wednesday, the company unveiled two new configurations that can attach to the walls and ceilings of parking garages, lots, and other locations without easy access to streetlights or utility poles. Like Voltpost’s signature pole-mounted design, the ceiling- and wall-mounted options avoid the expensive construction work required by freestanding charging infrastructure. In theory at least, that should allow the company to deploy more chargers faster.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Sparks

Trump’s USDA Using Farmland Rule to Go After Energy Companies, Democrats Say

A proposed change in how the agency implements an obscure Cold War-era law would impose onerous reporting requirements on renewables and pipelines.

Wind turbines and a farm.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Democrats in Congress claim that a new Trump administration proposal will have a chilling effect on the energy sector by subjecting renewables and fossil fuel pipelines alike to an obscure, rarely cited Cold War-era law requiring detailed information on foreign farmland ownership be submitted to the Agriculture Department.

In late June, the Agriculture Department released a proposal to change implementation of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, which requires companies to provide information to the federal government on foreign investors in farmland holdings, acquisitions, and sales. If finalized, the new rule would expand the definition of “agricultural land” in regulation to include all renewable energy facilities and pipeline corridors by explicitly tying the term to those industries’ formal codes under the North American Industry Classification System.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Sparks

Electricity Bills Were Higher Than Ever in July

Americans paid $217 on average for electricity last month, according to Heatmap and MIT’s Electricity Price Hub.

A plug graph.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

July is typically the season of high electricity bills, and this year is no exception.

Nationally, the average electricity bill spiked to $217, an all-time high, according to new data from Heatmap and MIT’s Electricity Price Hub. That’s up from $177 in June, and $215 last July. Meanwhile, electricity rates were 19 cents per kilowatt-hour, virtually unchanged from June and slightly higher than July of last year.

Keep reading...Show less