UPDATE: March 12, 2024: This story has been updated to include comments from Andrea Swiatocha, program manager for the Department of Energy’s Renew America’s Schools Program.
Dive Brief:
- School districts across the country can apply for $180 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to implement energy upgrades, improve indoor air quality and foster healthier learning environments at K-12 schools, the department announced Wednesday.
- The 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize will provide funding for school facilities that demonstrate a need for energy improvements and financing. Eligible projects include new HVAC and ventilation systems, building envelope and lighting projects, alternative fuel vehicles such as electric vehicles and infrastructure and renewable energy technologies, the DOE said in a March 20 news release.
- These investments can reduce energy use, resulting in lower building operating costs, which are the second-highest operational expense for schools, the department said.
Dive Insight:
The average main instructional school building in the U.S. is about 49 years old, with 38% built prior to 1970, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics. Fewer than half of the 1,625 public schools surveyed underwent major building renovations, with respondents that had renovated citing an average of 15 years since their last major replacement or addition, the study found. These findings reflect longstanding concerns about the conditions of older school facilities and the need to replace multiple building systems, including HVAC units, the NCES said.
As policymakers in states like Idaho and New York propose funding to help schools upgrade their facilities, the federal government is providing support for improving indoor air quality and environmental sustainability. In January, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would invest $47 million to help districts improve school facilities under the Support America’s School Infrastructure program.
Funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law, the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize builds on the existing Renew America’s Schools Program, which in June 2023 awarded $178 million to 24 U.S. school districts to make upgrades at over 90 public schools facilities across 22 states. The Energy Department called the new prize a groundbreaking investment in energy-efficient and renewable energy infrastructure at underserved K-12 public schools.
“Regardless [of whether] you applied in the first round or not, you’re absolutely eligible to apply for this round,” Andrea Swiatocha, program manager for the Renew America’s Schools Program, told Facilities Dive. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime [opportunity] for the DOE to directly fund school districts.”
During the first phase of the competition, applicants will create lists of school facilities that demonstrate a financial need and eligibility for investment. The 2024 prize focuses on schools that serve disadvantaged or rural communities, the DOE said. Phase 1 winners will earn a cash prize of $300,000 and move on to the second and third phases of the program. Awards given during these phases could range from $7.5 million to $15 million based on the number of facilities the funding will support.
A new prize-to-cooperative agreement funding mechanism streamlines the application process, lowers barriers to entry for districts and increases accessibility of federal funds, the DOE said in the release. Swiatocha said the cooperative agreement mechanism, which is administered by the National Renewable Energy Lab, can provide capital to school districts as soon as winners are announced.
“Once those up to 23 winners are selected for the phase 1 prize, and they receive that $300,000 cash prize, they’ll have the opportunity to enter into formal negotiations with the DOE for a cooperative agreement,” Swiatocha said.
The prize also promotes partnerships between school districts and industry experts, encouraging the formation of stakeholder support networks that can provide more targeted assistance, build internal expertise and open pathways to additional financing, the department said.
To be competitive, proposals will implement energy assessments and building improvement projects across a portfolio of 10 or more school facilities, the DOE said. These portfolios can comprise facilities from one or more districts. Districts submitting proposals should have the capacity to aggregate and manage projects across the portfolio, the department said.
The DOE is accepting applications for the prize through June 13.
