Energy efficiency is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy use and costs, lower carbon emissions, promote high-performance buildings that build local value, employ a local workforce, and create sought-after places to live and work. Energy efficiency can hedge against the volatility of electricity prices and help reduce demands on the grid. Local governments can improve energy efficiency (EE) of government buildings, fleets, and infrastructure and craft policies, programs, permits, and codes that assist local residents and businesses with improving the energy efficiency of their dwellings, offices, and transportation.

Local governments can capture the savings achieved by efficiency and channel them to new investment opportunities. This can ensure sustainable funding streams for additional projects. Wisconsin counties can become part of and promote PACE Wisconsin that provides financing to their commercial property owners for substantial energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades and projects. Municipal governments can advertise the financing opportunities of C-PACE to their businesses.

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Energy Resilience

Energy efficiency strategies:

Benchmarking buildings to establish and track their energy use over time to show progress to the community and areas for improvement for the budgeting cycle and for pursuing grants, incentives and financing.
Using smart efficiency practices such as sub-meters and advanced controls to track and manage energy and water use in real-time.
Upgrading energy efficiency of existing public buildings and incentivizing new commercial and residential buildings to be zero net energy or restorative. Target tenant landlord opportunities for EE in multifamily buildings
Partnering with utilities, energy efficiency businesses and organizations dedicated to improving energy efficiency to leverage resources to improve energy efficiency in LMI communities
Moving to electrification of systems (geothermal, heat pump water heaters, cold climate heat pumps for cooling and heating, etc) that will be powered by clean electricity as the grid transitions to carbon neutrality
Upgrading efficiency of equipment in water and wastewater treatment facilities
Encouraging microgrids, district energy systems, and waste heat technologies
Improving efficiency of transportation – electric vehicles including cars, buses, vans, light duty trucks, fire trucks, and park vehicles. Increase access to affordable, reliable transportation options for low-income residents, and consider providing discounted subscriptions to car, bike or scooter- sharing programs. Use V2G technology to enable 2-way battery charging and to supply the grid (see Energy Resilience)
Planting trees for natural cooling, reducing urban heat islands, and carbon sequestration
Designing subdivisions and downtowns with land use and design principles that encourage efficiency, like transit oriented developments, and resilience to severe climate events.

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Equity & Environmental Justice

Equity & Environmental Justice – Equity and justice should be included with each part of the menu. As you explore each menu, consider the most vulnerable populations within your community. Be sure to include and prioritize these groups as you develop and plan your efforts.

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Local governments can incorporate procedures and language into codes and permitting to remove unintentional barriers and ensure that all populations have the opportunity to go solar.
- SolSmart Guidance for Advancing Solar Equity
To get a better understanding of environmental justice issues and a source for teaching about environmental justice, InTeGrate uses a systems approach to address the issues of environmental justice.
- Environmental Justice
Community solar is one way for low-income communities to access clean and lower cost energy. As an example, Illinois has an Action Plan for energy generation and community solar for low-income communities.
- Illinois Action Plan
Improve Energy Efficiency of Affordable Housing. EPA developed a guide for how local governments can incorporate energy efficiency in affordable housing. This not only helps to reduce emissions, but also helps low income residents cut their energy costs.
- Energy Efficiency in Affordable Housing
Lastly, US DOE’s Better Buildings has a large array of resources for low-income communities. Topics include helping single family homeowners, stakeholder engagement, and action planning.
- Clean Energy for Low Income Communities
A diverse group of collaborators representing tribal, academic, intertribal and government entities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, developed a framework to integrate indigenous and traditional knowledge, culture, language and history into the climate adaptation planning process.
- Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu

Education & Information

Education & Information – provides education and information ideas and resources. These are intended to be some of the first steps a community can take to address certain subsections.

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For a great example of how helpful energy efficiency can be toward communities, review the following briefing, which explored how more than 60 electric cooperatives and public utilities across the country are using an innovative financing mechanism—on-bill financing—to fund clean energy upgrades for homes and small businesses to reduce these burdensome energy costs.
- Implementing Energy Efficiency Programs in Rural America
PXiSE is an energy software service that helps control microgrids and renewable energy. This software is helpful in implementing energy storage and can help reduce operational costs.
- PXiSE Energy Solutions

Low-Cost Strategies

Low-Cost Strategies – are focused on strategies and accompanying resources that usually will not require intensive staff capacity, fiscal resources, and maybe done through staff decisions.

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This resource guide is intended to help local governments develop and implement policies and programs for improving the energy efficiency of single-family and multifamily homes in their communities.
- Residential Energy Efficiency for Local Governments
To help communities develop and support neighborhoods that provide transportation choices and affordable housing, increase economic competitiveness, and direct resources toward places with existing infrastructure, EPA has compiled this list of useful tools and key resources.
- Tools and Resources for Sustainable Communities

Significant Resource Deployment

Significant Resource Deployment – are strategies that may require more staff capacity, increased fiscal resources, and larger, possibly cohesive decisions.

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A wide array of sources offered by the EPA for renewable energy generation and energy efficiency examples and policies.
- Energy Resources for State, Local, and Tribal Governments
Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit is an EPA resource that informs policies for commercial and multifamily buildings.
- Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit
The Local Clean Energy Self-Scoring Tool lets you score any community’s energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts using the metrics from ACEEE’s 2019 City Clean Energy Scorecard. The brief user guide shows you how to use the application to evaluate community-wide initiatives, government operations, and buildings, utility, and transportation policies. You can also compare your community’s scores against average city scores from the 2019 City Scorecard. By cataloging strengths and identifying areas for improvement, the Self-Scoring Tool can help you create a clean energy roadmap for your community that is designed to serve all residents.
- Local Clean Energy Self-Scoring Tool, Version 4.0

Celebrating Successes

Celebrating Successes – are actions and strategies for communities to celebrate and keep the momentum going. They will help address positive outcomes of previous strategies taken and inspire further action.

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The State and Local Planning for Energy (SLOPE) Platform delivers jurisdictionally resolved potential and projection data on energy efficiency, renewable energy to enable data-driven state and local energy planning. This platform can be helpful to communities who would like to track their progress and get a better inventory of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
- SLOPE: State and Local Planning for Energy

Grants & Funding

Grants & Funding – help communities support actions through financial means such as grants and other resources.

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Focus on energy offers discounts to individuals who need energy-efficient products like lighting and general energy saving packs. They also help with incentives for heating and insulation.
- Focus on Energy
Federal Income Tax Credits and Other Incentives for Energy Efficiency through Energy Star.
- Federal Tax Credits for Consumer Energy Efficiency
The Wisconsin Weatherization Assistance Program (WisWAP) uses energy conservation techniques to reduce the cost of home energy. Correcting health and safety hazards and potentially life-threatening conditions is the first consideration in WAP activities. WAP not only provides assistance for weatherization for homes but also helps home improve their energy saving ability through things like insulation installation.
- Home Energy Plus