Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT)

Federal Agency

Sub-Department

Building Technologies Office (BTO)

Purpose

To provide funds to research, develop, and validate technologies with the potential to significantly advance building decarbonization.

Applicant and/or Project Eligibility Requirements

Eligible appliants include states, local governments, Indian tribes, nonprofit entities and institutions of higher education. There are four topic areas in 2024 BENEFIT FOA: 1) Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning and Water Heating; 2) Innovative, Replicable, and Low-Cost Roof and Attic Retrofits; 3) Building Resilience and Capacity Constraints; and 4) Commercial Lighting Retrofit Advancements.

Decarbonization Considerations

This program calls for new technologies that can speed the decarbonization of significant building segments and ensure emissions reductions also reduce customer energy burdens. Consideration of embodied and end-of-life emissions will strengthen applications, and some topic areas may explicitly require it.

Equity Considerations

Applicants are required to submit a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan that describes the actions the applicant will take to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment, support people from groups underrepresented in STEM, advance equity, and encourage the inclusion of individuals from these groups in the project; and the extent the project activities will be located in or benefit underserved communities.

Helpful Tips

The FOA has the joint priority of making buildings more resilient, providing benefits to grid operators during periods of peak electricity demand and building occupants during grid outages and extreme weather events.

Other Notes

The 2024 BENEFIT FOA supports the Affordable Home Energy Shot™—one of eight Energy Earthshot™ initiatives DOE has launched—which will reduce the cost of decarbonizing affordable housing by at least 50% while lowering residents’ energy bill by at least 20% within a decade. Topics in the FOA will lead to innovations that provide whole-home integrated solutions for the equitable decarbonization of affordable housing units the Earthshot calls for.