Housing
Greening an Entire Block Instead of Just One Building
Most smaller commercial buildings can't afford energy retrofits on their own. But what if they banded together?
Single- and multi-family residences are pretty well covered on the energy retrofit market. Plenty of groups have lined up to help them: utilities offering rebates, local governments pledging tax breaks. Remember Barack Obama’s federal “cash for caulkers” program? All of these incentives exist to help homeowners swallow the up-front cost of new insulation, or smarter thermostats, against the promise of lower utility bills down the line.
At the other end of the built environment exist the Pentagons and the Empire State Buildings of the world, the really big commercial towers and sprawling office complexes. They’ve got things pretty well covered, too.