The Inflation Reduction Act: A Rose by Another Name
By Mike Davis, FAIA, and Kara Kempski, AIA Director of Federal Relations
In the AIA’s “Policy Platform 2020,” under the “Transform energy use” heading of the “Climate Action” section, three AIA public policy goals are identified:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency in buildings
- Promote renewable energy and embrace building electrification
- Create federal incentives for the adoption of net zero carbon energy codes
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 delivers on most of those points.
Having presented the AIA Policy Platform 2020 to both major political parties ahead of the last Presidential election, the AIA was very encouraged by signs that the Administration was in alignment with many of our advocacy goals. The AIA’s two-year initiative making the case that “Buildings Are Infrastructure” seemed to resonate with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but given the closely divided Congress, optimism had to be offset by moderated expectations. With the Inflation Reduction Act currently on the President’s desk, we can confidently say that AIA’s climate and equity goals have taken a big step forward. Among the sections of this bill are:
- Many climate action-related tax incentives such as improvements to the 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction, extensions to the 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the 45L New Energy Efficiency Home Credit, and an increase to the Research and Development tax credit for small businesses.
- $330 million in grants to state and local governments to adopt the latest energy codes that meet or exceed the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code and/or ASHRAE 90.1-2019 and an additional $670 million for states and localities to adopt and implement zero-energy stretch codes.
- $4.3 billion available to state energy offices to reimburse homeowners for whole-house energy savings improvements, and $4.275 billion available state energy offices to establish a rebate program for energy efficient appliance and non-appliance upgrades. These provisions include extra funding for low-income households and Tribal Nations.
- Many investments in Federal building energy efficiency including $2.15 billion for the Federal Buildings Fund to be used by the GSA “to acquire and install low-embodied carbon materials and products for use in the construction or alteration of buildings.” The legislation also includes $975 million for GSA to invest in emerging and sustainable technologies.
- $7 billion in competitive grants “to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy or benefit from zero-emission technologies, including distributed technologies on residential rooftops, and to carry out other greenhouse gas emission reduction activities.”
The advocacy and tenacity of AIA Members contributed to making this happen. Architects met with their Members of Congress, sent Action Alerts, and made their voices heard. The AIA spent months working with members of Congress and their staffs to make sure the priorities of architects and design professionals were considered and included in this legislation. These measures will bring us closer to our goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to increase the availability of energy efficient affordable housing for the future.
https://www.aia.org/press-releases/6534285-architects-celebrate-climate-action-and-co
A more detailed overview of the building sector investments in the legislation is available here.