Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development (BUILD) Program

This Preliminary Program Design for the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development (BUILD) Program outlines staff proposals for key elements of the BUILD Program that will be further developed in final BUILD Program Guidelines, including eligibility requirements, participation process, and incentive structure. BUILD is a building decarbonization initiative established by Senate Bill (SB) 1477 (Stern, Chapter 378, Statutes of 2018) that will provide financial incentives for new low-income residential building projects using near-zero-emission building technologies. BUILD is further governed by California Public Utilities Code (CPUC) Decision (D.) 20-03-027. Applicants are required to adopt all-electric building design and technologies in their new housing developments for low-income Californians, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy demands from future buildings. Incentives are determined based on the estimated greenhouse gas emissions reduction quantities achieved through the installation of eligible technologies, with the option of increasing the incentive amounts through specific technology use. In addition, technical assistance will be provided to eligible low-income residential developers and builders.