REALIZE is a market facilitation platform that seeks to establish high volume net zero carbon retrofit delivery programs across the US. Market facilitation activities include aggregating retrofit demand while coordinating the supply chain to deploy high-quality, prefabricated retrofit packages that are easy to install and are financed through utility cost savings.
Our vision is a future where buildings are heated, cooled, and powered using renewable, non-greenhouse gas emitting resources and where historically disenfranchised communities are fully included in the benefits and can take part in the new workforce it will take to get there.
Buildings are the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally. Building construction and operations are responsible for 40 percent of emissions, totaling 14 gigatons of CO2 per year. At the same time, buildings are the number one source of air-pollution-related premature deaths in the United States.
In order to reverse both these trends we must eliminate 50 percent of building-related emissions by 2030. Retrofits are an important part of the solution!
REALIZE is inspired by Energiesprong, an innovative model from the Netherlands. A public-private partnership, Energiesprong has implemented zero-energy retrofits to the tune of almost 5,000 units of multifamily housing over the past five years, with another 100,000 planned across Europe.
REALIZE works with local stakeholders and suppliers to establish regional project delivery platforms for building decarbonization retrofit packages, with REALIZE-CA (California) as our flagship program. The goal is for the delivery platform to streamline everything from financing, to permitting, to the installation process for a set of turnkey net-zero retrofit solutions.
Supported by awards from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission, REALIZE is launching several pilots to demonstrate Energiesprong-like retrofit packages. These projects seek to test the efficacy of these solutions while organizing the supply chain to develop more integrated retrofit systems for deployment across the multifamily housing market.
REALIZE is a member of the Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Collaborative. REALIZE supports the ABC Collaborative’s mission to coordinate various market actors to accelerate the research and development and deployment of high-performance building systems into the U.S. construction sector for new buildings and retrofits.
REALIZE offers the zero-over-time approach for multifamily portfolio owners to improve their existing building stock. The approach offers a portfolio-wide roadmap for undertaking projects in deep energy and water efficiency, electrification, renewable energy, and energy storage that are timed with major building life-cycle events, or triggers.
REALIZE supports partners such as the Emerald Cities Collaborative to recruit and train people of color and women contractors, connecting them to project opportunities and readying them for taking on bigger and more complex projects.
Although technology and financing solutions will play a large role in scaling zero-carbon retrofits, addressing institutional barriers and creating conducive market conditions will be just as critical. The REALIZE policy team works with federal and state policymakers, agencies, and community organizations to support market-enabling policies and regulatory environments.
Department of Energy
Partner
California Energy Commission
Partner
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Partner
Energiesprong
Partner
Passive House Institute US
Partner
Emerald Cities Collaborative
Partner
The Levy Partnership
Partner
Re:Vision Architecture
Partner
Staengl Engineering
Partner
Association for Energy Affordability
Partner
University of California Davis
Partner
San Francisco Department of Environment
Partner
Prospect Silicon Valley
Partner
Integral Group
Partner
David Baker Architects
Partner
Stone Energy Associates
Partner
James Mandel
Martha Campbell
Principal
Maura Mooney
Program Coordinator
Amy Egerter
Manager
Lucas Toffoli
Manager
Brett Webster
Manager
Adam Parker
REALIZE Market Consultant
Maggie Huang
Senior Associate
Learn more about REALIZE's California program.
This report provides a synthesis of technologies and approaches that can help to implement new construction and building retrofits.
A Market Assessment
REALIZE: Catalyzing a Zero-Carbon Residential Revolution
Factory Zero tells us more about their monitoring systems and performance monitoring to manage maintenance needs, tenant behavior, and to ensure savings in retrofit buildings.
REALIZE observations from an August 2018 field trip to Energiesprong projects in the Netherlands
Sizing the market for integrated, all-electric mechanical systems, 2018
Techno Economic Study: How To Guide
PBS Newshour
Scientific American
RMI 2021
Passive House Accelerator 2021
Passive House Accelerator 2021
Passive House Accelerator 2021
The New York Times
Forbes
RMI 2018
RMI 2016
The Guardian
