Infrastructure bill includes energy efficiency grants for houses of worship

By Yonat Shimron
Religion News Service
August 11, 2021

Deferred maintenance at aging sanctuaries has become an ever-increasing burden. A $50 million pilot program would award grants of up to $200,000 for energy efficiency.

Buried on Page 1,729 of the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill approved by the U.S. Senate Aug. 10 in a bipartisan vote is a project titled “Energy efficiency materials pilot program.”

It would fund $50 million in grants to nonprofits, including religious congregations, so they can buy new energy-efficient heating and cooling systems for their buildings. The program, to be administered by the Department of Energy, would provide grants of up to $200,000 each for nonprofits that want to purchase new HVAC units and generators or fund replacements of windows and doors to make them more energy efficient.

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