The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded nearly $23 million in early March to a dozen organizations to test new and innovative ways to cut energy bills and to finance energy-efficiency upgrades in existing multifamily properties.

The goal of HUD's Energy Innovation Fund pilot program is to develop ideas and mechanisms that could potentially be replicated nationwide, as well as help create industry standards in the home energy-efficiency retrofit market.

The federal grants are directly leveraging an additional $60 million in philanthropic, local, and private capital.

“This is more than just ”˜going green,' it's about bringing real dollars and cents solutions to a sector of the market that is currently wasting money heating and cooling buildings, some of which were built more than a generation ago,” said Carol Galante, acting federal housing commissioner, in a statement.

  • The recipients include:
  • Columbus Property Management & Development, Inc., in Philadelphia: $3 million;
  • Community Environmental Center, Inc., in Long Island City, N.Y.: $3 million;
  • Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.: $2.79 million;
  • Heat Watch in Glen Head, N.Y.: $356,300;
  • iCast in Lakewood, Colo.: $590,118;
  • Jonathan Rose Cos., LLC, in Newark, N.J.: $325,732;
  • Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development: $1.25 million;
  • Network for Oregon Affordable Housing in Portland: $3 million;
  • New Ecology, Inc. in Boston: $989,275;
  • NRG Solutions, LLC in Boston: $5.25 million;
  • Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future: $1.5 million; and
  • University of Illinois-Champaign, Ill.: $500,000.

For more information on HUD funding, go to www.hud.gov.