Strengthening Illinois’ Retrofit Program with Effective Community Engagement
Broderick Johnson
Executive Summary
Improving the energy efficiency of Illinois’ buildings is a vital climate action that will reduce energy consumption. These improvements are particularly needed in low-income communities where building inefficiency leads to residents consuming disproportionately high amounts of energy, incurring burdensome utility costs, and suffering adverse health effects from poor indoor air quality. While state programs attempt to correct these problems by funding building energy efficiency retrofits, these policies risk falling short of their goals because they do not do enough to require effective community engagement. To ensure that state-funded retrofitting programs are maximally effective, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency should alter its funding criteria to ensure that these programs incorporate the best community engagement practices.
The Need for Community-Engaged Retrofitting
As Illinois attempts to address the climate crisis in an equitable manner, one of its key strategies is to retrofit old buildings to make them more energy efficient. Buildings in need of retrofitting are predominantly located in low-income disadvantaged communities and their inefficiency burdens residents with high utility bills. These buildings also tend to utilize fossil fuel-burning appliances which are health hazards that increase levels of indoor air pollution. Therefore, outdated buildings not only consume disproportionately high amounts of energy, they further exacerbate economic hardships and health problems in disadvantaged communities. For these reasons, state and federal retrofit programs are important mechanisms to both combat the climate crisis and enact environmental justice. This is why funding for these programs was a central component of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Together, these pieces of legislation have allocated $14.3 billion to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for formula grants related to building retrofits (Table 1).
Table 1. DOE formula grants that provide funding for building energy efficiency retrofits.
a: Source for BIL program amounts: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Guidebook.
b: Source for IRA program amounts: Inflation Reduction Act Guidebook.
c: Sources for amounts are hyperlinked in table.
d: Total amount received 2015–2023.
e: Funds from the Home Energy Rebates and Home Electrification and Appliances Rebates programs were issued to Illinois as a single award.
In order for Illinois to make the most of these newly available federal funds, it needs to ensure that the retrofitting projects it funds are applying effective community engagement practices. These practices are vital for retrofit projects because they increase community members’ trust and participation in the retrofitting process. Reports on previous retrofitting efforts have emphasized the importance of these practices, which is why DOE provides guidance on best practices for community engagement and requires funding applications to include plans to implement these practices. However, Illinois’ Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBGP), which distributes federal retrofitting funds to local governments, does not have the same requirement. To ensure that municipalities carry out maximally effective building retrofit projects that incorporate best practices for community engagement, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (ILEPA) should amend the EECBGP applications standards.
Discrepancies between Federal and Illinois Community Engagement Standards
At the federal level, DOE has shown a strong commitment to funding building retrofit programs that incorporate effective community engagement strategies. As part of the Justice40 Initiative, DOE requires states to include a Community Benefits Plan (CBP) in their applications for grant funding (Figure 1).
A crucial component of these CBPs is a detailed, actionable plan for community and labor engagement. In its guidelines, DOE explains that applicants’ community engagement efforts should include two-way communication with community members to allows for community input in the decision-making process. This kind of communication has been shown to make community members more likely to retrofit their properties. DOE guidelines further state that engagement plans should include legally binding agreements which will hold states accountable to stakeholders throughout the retrofit process. To help states develop CBPs that include these elements, DOE has partnered with the University of California, Berkeley to provide states with technical assistance during the planning process. This combination of support and program requirements is meant to ensure that states’ retrofitting projects utilize highly effective community engagement practices.
On the other hand, Illinois’ community engagement requirements are significantly less robust. Currently, the ILEPA encourages EECBGP applicants to base their retrofit projects on a DOE blueprint which provides guidelines for creating the same effective community engagement plans that DOE requires. However, ILEPA’s review criteria do not require applicants to include these community engagement strategies in their applications. Instead, the criteria only state that applicants should include a plan for one-way communication and information sharing with the public. The criteria also value partnerships between multiple local governments more than partnerships between municipalities and community-based organizations. Moreover, ILEPA does not provide technical assistance for community engagement plan development beyond offering the DOE blueprint. These policies neither enable nor require applicants to commit to meaningful engagement with stakeholders and therefore open up the risk of Illinois’ retrofitting programs falling short of their goals.
Policy Recommendations
To ensure that Illinois’ retrofitting programs are maximally effective, ILEPA should make the following changes to the EECBGP:
- Require two-way communication with community members and stakeholders. Instead of the one-way communication that is currently required, applicants and awardees should be required to show evidence of engaging in two-way communication during project planning and implementation.
- Favor applicants who have legally binding agreements with stakeholders. The legal enforceability of these agreements ensures that a local government is accountable to community members throughout the retrofitting process, so applicants with these agreements in place should receive a higher application review score.
- Provide technical assistance for developing community engagement plans. Following the example set by DOE and University of California, Berkeley, ILEPA could partner with an institution like the University of Illinois to help municipalities develop effective community engagement plans.
Placing a greater emphasis on these community engagement approaches will make Illinois’ retrofitting efforts more effective by ensuring that Illinoisans in low-income and disadvantaged communities are engaged in the process. These policy changes should be enacted before Illinois receives its IRA funding to ensure that future retrofitting programs can effectively advance climate action and environmental justice in the state.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Dr. Caitlyn Hall and Kavitha Chintam for their feedback.
