City’s Success with Federal Funding Supports Climate Leadership and Cost Savings

Our community prides itself on its climate and sustainability leadership. That leadership has been recognized most recently by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Children and Nature Network,  and the National League of Cities. 

Prioritizing sustainable development has allowed us to secure federal, state, and philanthropic grant funding for climate initiatives that benefit our community in the present and in the future. From 2022-2024, City staff helped secure $3,183,983 in state, federal, and philanthropic grant funding to support climate change mitigation and adaptation projects. This grant funding allows us to achieve our sustainability goals and advance environmental justice while saving City dollars.

Our work on solar energy, building energy efficiency, and clean air best represent these funds in action.

Solar Energy

The City recently celebrated the installation of 2 megawatts of solar on City facilities. These solar arrays collectively save an estimated $150,000 - $200,000 in energy costs a year. And more solar is on the way. In 2023, the City was awarded $1,500,000 in federal funds to install 440 kilowatts of solar at the Community Development Authority’s Truax Apartments. These arrays will provide an estimated 561,000 kilowatt-hours of clean energy to affordable multifamily housing, reducing the energy cost for both the City and Truax residents. Each kilowatt-hour of clean energy produced by City solar arrays reduces City facility energy usage and the costs to City taxpayers. Additionally, these solar arrays are installed by the City’s Green Power Program which helps train the next generation of the solar energy workforce.

Building Energy Efficiency

Our energy efficiency initiatives also help save residents money and provide workforce development. The City’s Efficiency Navigator program is a model for improving the energy efficiency of multifamily housing and reducing energy burden, while also ensuring our stock of affordable rental housing remains stable. The Efficiency Navigator provides free technical assistance and pays for energy efficiency and other upgrades to small- and medium-sized multifamily housing, reducing energy bills for residents and cutting carbon pollution. In 2022 and 2023, the Efficiency Navigator was fully grant funded, combining funding from the State Office of Energy Innovation’s Energy Innovation Grant Program, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the Community Development Block Grant provided the by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

We were recently awarded a $500,000 competitive grant from the Department of Energy to scale the program and expand its reach in Madison and surrounding communities. An exciting aspect of this grant is the opportunity to prepare and upskill the local workforce to take advantage of emerging residential energy efficiency opportunities like the Inflation Reduction Act Home Energy Rebates. This grant will help promote equitable workforce development so individuals in our community can benefit from the green energy economy.

We have also received over $350,000 from the Wisconsin Office of Energy Innovation to make energy efficiency upgrades to the Monona Terrace.

Clean Air

The City is also leveraging federal funding to better understand and improve air quality in our community. With grant funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the City is leading a collaborative project to install a city-wide network of air quality sensors. These sensors will measure particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5 and PM 10) - small particles that can cause heart and breathing problems. Air quality data from the network will help our community understand the amount, location, and potential sources of particulate matter pollution. Better information about air quality will help us know when to take action to protect our health and help our community develop strategies to reduce pollution where it is highest. The project is co-led with three local non-profit organizations that provide health-focused programming to communities of color – Latino Health Council, Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, and The Hmong Institute.   

These are just a few of the examples of how the City is successfully leveraging grant funding to tackle climate change, protect the health of our community and our environment, and save money. The Sustainability and Resilience Team and other City agencies will continue to pursue philanthropic, state, and federal grant dollars to aid in this work and support our local and regional partners to ensure federal dollars continue to flow to our community and region.