Cost Reduction Lab

MassCEC / High Performance Buildings / Funding / Cost Reduction Lab

The Challenge

Lowering building decarbonization costs and increasing replicability will accelerate adoption and improve affordability. First round focus: Decarbonizing existing small (1 to 4 unit) residential buildings.

About the Cost Reduction Lab

We are looking for projects that will demonstrate business models, market or implementation approaches, and/or technology solutions that lower cost and accelerate market uptake of decarbonization.

Our approach includes the following:

• Solicit and identify new solutions to reduce the cost of deployment of decarbonization, with a focus on the “problem statements: below.
• Foster collaboration between industry actors to establish value-add partnerships.
• Support demonstration, measurement and verification, and business support.
• Assess cost reduction potential and disseminate outcomes to scale solutions.

Priority Problem Areas

• Electrical Upgrade Triggers: Reducing need for costly panel upgrades with load management solutions.
• Lack of Project Coordination: Leveraging complementary projects to capture whole-project savings.
• Geothermal Cost Barriers: Reduce costs with new business models, drilling tech, financing innovation.
• Non-Standardized Heat Pump Installation: Streamlining heat pump design and deployment.
• High Upfront Costs to Solar: Reducing soft costs and accelerating adoption.

Who's Eligible

This program is open to applicants who will demonstrate cost savings of a decarbonization solution, including:

• Home performance contractors
• Technology installers
• Technology providers
• Academics
• Consultants

Proposals must be for projects that will demonstrate decarbonization cost reductions applicable to Massachusetts.