Ekotrope Now Supports the Mass Save® All-Electric Home Incentive
Ekotrope is excited to announce the launch of the Mass Save® All-Electric Home Incentive. The All-Electric Home Incentive is an advanced, industry-pushing program aimed at encouraging the construction of high performance, all-electric homes.
For the past few years, Ekotrope has partnered with Mass Save®, and sponsoring utilities Berkshire Gas, Cape Light Compact, Eversource, Liberty, National Grid and Unitil, on a variety of their programs, including:
the utilization of Ekotrope’s Automated Design Assistance tool to increase program participation
In an ongoing effort to streamline their processes and maximize the efficiency of their quality assurance techniques, the team uses Ekotrope software to reduce time spent doing manual work. In addition to dramatically reducing processing time, adding the All-Electric Home Incentive Qualifications into Ekotrope’s rating tool makes it as easy as a click of a button for home energy raters to submit and participate in the program. By partnering together, Ekotrope and the Sponsors of Mass Save seek to ensure the success of this program.
How to Qualify:
To qualify for the All-Electric Home Incentive, a new home in MA must be modeled in Ekotrope and projected to use at least 30% less energy than a home built to standard code OR reach HERS 45 without PV. The home must also be all-electric.
Some of the requirements include:
an infiltration rate less than or equal to 1.5 air changes per hour at 50 Pa (ACH50)
balanced Heat Recovery or Energy Recovery Ventilation (HRV/ERV)
Electric Vehicle (EV) charging capability
Qualifying homes could receive up to $25,000 per single family home with additional funds available for 2-4 unit buildings. This is an exciting opportunity to encourage builders to get on the path to zero emissions!
Ekotrope’s Incentive Calculation:
In Ekotrope RATER, we’ve added a new incentive calculation to MA projects that confirms program requirements and if the project qualifies, the home energy rater sees the home’s potential incentive amount. We’ve also added a new field to the Online Intake Tool so that raters can indicate the projects that are trying to achieve the All-Electric Home Incentive. In doing so, the Mass Save program team can then track enrollments and forecast project completions while working closely with the rater to ensure program compliance.
The objective of this new incentive is for the Mass Save program team to encourage and support building innovation so that more homes can reach net zero and, ultimately, support Massachusetts’ carbon reduction goals. By having a high savings target, all-electric fuel, and stringent efficiency levels, these homes will help move the industry forward to net zero.
When asked about this new program, Ekotrope co-founder and Lead Engineer Nick Sisler said,
“I am really excited we are supporting Mass Save's All-Electric Home Incentive! All-electric, high efficiency homes significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions today and have the potential to be completely sustainable and net zero. Working toward a sustainable future is our vision for Ekotrope and it is great to be able to see that so tangibly with a program like this.”
As of March 2nd the incentive calculation is officially live in Ekotrope RATER and we couldn’t be more excited to start 2022 with ambitious energy-saving goals and new programs.
Ekotrope will share our first report on the state of electrification in the US based on home data aggregated in Ekotrope RATER very soon. Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to access this report!