Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) announced its Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) 2024 Funding Opportunity (DE-FOA-0003158). This funding opportunity will invest up to $30 million across nine topic areas to research, develop, and validate technologies with the potential to significantly advance building decarbonization. Since its inception in 2014, BTO has issued the BENEFIT Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to spur innovations that provide substantial improvements to building energy performance and occupant comfort. Technologies developed through BENEFIT 2024 will advance the state-of-the-art for HVAC equipment, lower the cost of building envelope and lighting retrofits, and make buildings more resilient to blackouts and extreme weather. Equitable decarbonization of the U.S. building stock is central to each topic in the BENEFIT 2024 FOA, emphasizing cost-effective, easy-to-deploy technology solutions and community-oriented project partnerships. 

The 2024 BENEFIT FOA supports the Affordable Home Energy ShotTM—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. 

To read more about this FOA and apply, read the full announcement.