Building Cleaner Communities Competition
Clean and Resilient Spaces for Thriving Local Economies and Communities
NYSERDA has $15 million of funding available to support regionally significant, zero emissions, carbon neutral, and resilient new construction and existing building renovation projects across New York State. Building Cleaner Communities projects demonstrate how they will help achieve the goals of the New York State Regional Economic Development Council’s Strategic Plan or other State priorities, while creating beautiful and functional spaces that are healthy, safe, comfortable.
NYSERDA’s Building Cleaner Communities Competition – formerly known as the Carbon Neutral Community Economic Development program - supports the design and construction of carbon neutral or net zero energy performance in two categories. Category A provides funding at the facility level, supporting building-specific measures for efficiency, all-electric heating and cooling, renewable energy, storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Category B provides funding at the community and campus level supporting planning, energy modeling, design, technical analysis needed for carbon neutral or net zero performance of the large-scale project. The program is open to existing and new construction buildings to achieve carbon neutral or net zero energy performance.
Benefits Offered to Building Owners
NYSERDA’s Building Cleaner Communities Competition offers funding for clean and resilient buildings and communities as a way to reduce barriers tied to the design, development, and implementation of these projects that will ultimately be good for both businesses and occupants.
Zero Emission Buildings
Exceptionally energy-efficient buildings designed and constructed to be resilient and utilize all-electric mechanical, heating, cooling and ventilation equipment with low GWP refrigerants, lighting, and renewable systems.
Innovative Solutions
Allow building owners and designers to explore new methodologies to build and integrate new systems, technologies, and products into the buildings to achieve carbon neutral or net zero energy status.
Healthy Building Practices
Bring building owners value with well-designed comfortable, efficient, safe environments that promote healthy indoor air quality, combat allergens and asthma, and emphasize occupant control.
Resilient Building Strategies
Applicants are encouraged to use strategies like passive survivability during extended power outages, address forward looking climate conditions, and community resilience enhancing strategies.
Third Party Certification
Applicants and their design teams are encouraged to investigate and design to third party certifications, such as Passive House, to help achieve carbon neutral or net zero energy status.
Expanding Market Demand
Support market positioning at the forefront of zero emission building design, construction, and development.
Funding Overview
The financial support for projects in both Category A and Cateogry B will be capped at $2,000,000.
Category A
Funding can be comprised of both a dollar per square foot amount and flat incentive amounts for various project elements.
- $45 per square foot for projects owned by a 501(c)(3) entity.
- $35 per square for all other projects.
- $300,000 for projects committed to designing to and certifying to the Passive House standard.
- $300,00 for projects committed to installing Ground Source Heat Pumps.
- $150,000 for projects committed to installing a battery storage system.
- $100,000 for projects committed to installing a solar photovoltaic system.
Category B
Funding will be 75% of the incremental cost to plan and design a community, campus, or large real estate portfolio project to carbon neutral or net zero energy performance status.
Eligibility
- Projects can be located anywhere in New York State.
- Projects are part of the commercial sector.
- Applicants can include building owners or developers.
- Applications must be submitted prior to issuance of the building permit.
- Project can be new construction or existing buildings going through substantial renovations, gut rehabilitations, or adaptive reuse.
- Project needs to meet carbon neutral or net zero energy performance status.
How to Apply
Applications to this program are submitted through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application.
Applications will be accepted continuously from May 19, 2025 through July 31, 2025, at 4:00 p.m.
Have questions or need more information?
For additional information, please reference the following: http://www.regionalcouncils.ny.gov
For questions, please contact [email protected]
Winning Projects
Winners of NYSERDA’s Building Cleaner Communities Competition awards offer real world examples of economic development projects that are designed to meet decarbonization goals. The below list of projects span a diverse range of sectors including agriculture, downtown revitalization, mixed use, institutional, arts and culture, workforce development, manufacturing, as well as food and beverage production.
2024 Building Cleaner Communities Competition
Project: Brownsville Arts Center
Award: $1,700,000
Company: Brownsville Arts Owner LLC
REDC: New York City
Project: Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
Award: $1,412,384
Company: Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens Society, Inc.
REDC: Western New York
Project: Carbon Neutral Hawthorne Valley
Award: $1,283,803
Company: Hawthorne Valley Association
REDC: Capital District
Project: Chester Agricultural Center Farmworker Housing
Award: $1,340,883
Company: Chester Agricultural Center, Inc.
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: Innovation Center Construction
Award: $2,000,000
Company: Trustees of Hamilton College
REDC: Mohawk Valley
Project: Schenectady Environmental Education Center
Award: $118,920
Company: City of Schenectady
REDC: Capital District
Project: The Beacon East Harlem MultiService Center
Award: $1,700,000
Company: The Community Builders Inc
REDC: New York City
Project: The HEArts Community Center
Award: $2,000,000
Company: Mott Haven - Port Morris Community Land Stewards
REDC: New York City
Project: The Tunnel
Award: $1,500,000
Company: BNT Property Holdings Inc
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: Ulster County Government Operations Center Geothermal
Award: $2,000,000
Company: Ulster County Planning
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Building Cleaner Communities Awarded Projects
Carbon Neutral Buildings
Project: The Bank Loft
Award: $972,806.00
Company: Dooalot, LLC
REDC: Mohawk Valley
Project: Scenic Hudson: Northside Hub
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: Scenic Hudson, Inc.
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: City of Kingston Energy Efficiency Upgrades
Award: $1,815,000.00
Company: City of Kingston
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: Maplewood Nature Center
Award: $342,000.00
Company: City of Rochester
REDC: Finger Lakes
Project: North Bay Regeneration Project
Award: $1,639,206.00
Company: Kite's Nest
REDC: Capital District
Project: Historic Cohoes Music Hall
Award: $1,383,477.00
Company: City of Cohoes
REDC: Capital District
Project: Catskill Mountain Foundation Dance Studio
Award: $940,545.00
Company: Catskill Mountain Foundation Orpheum Performing Arts Center
REDC: Capital District
Project: Phinney Design Group - 504 Broadway - Troy
Award: $600,000.00
Company: Phinney Design Group
REDC: Capital District
Project: United Way of Long Island Net Zero
Award: $595,000.00
Company: United Way of Long Island
REDC: Long Island
Project: New Composting Bedding Pack Energy Net Zero Smart Dairy Barn
Award: $1,000,000.00
Company Wood B Ayr Farm
REDC: Central New York
Project: City Winery of Hudson Valley
Award: $805,756.00
Company: City Winery of Hudson Valley
REDC: Mid Hudson
Project: Basilica Hudson NetZero Campus
Award: $950,139.00
Company: $1,357,342.00
REDC: Capital Region
Project: Salina 1st LLC Net Zero
Award: $1,000,000.00
Company: Salina 1st LLC
REDC: Central New York
Project: 139 Fifth Avenue Pelham
Award: $943,072.00
Company: Pelham RE Partners LLC
REDC: Mid Hudson
Project: Rome’s Water Resource Recovery Facility
Award: $1,000,000.00
Company: The City of Rome
REDC: Southern Tier
Project: VINES
Award: $400,000.00
Company: Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments Inc.
REDC: Southern Tier
Project: Connected Autonomous Vehicle Enclosure (CAVE)
Award: $500,000.00
Company: University of Buffalo
REDC: Western New York
Project: Sustainability Workforce Training Center
Award: $137,817.00
Company: People United for Sustainable Housing
REDC: Western New York
Project: 185 South Main Street Cold Storage
Award: $410,590.00
Company: Main Street Farms LLC
REDC: Central New York
Project: Catskill Gateway Carbon Neutral Project
Award: $1,914,059.00
Company: 335 Main Street LLC
REDC: Capital Region
Project: Rubin Hall Passive House Retrofit
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: New York University
REDC: New York City
Project: 211 Main Street North Tonawanda
Award: $300,000.00
Company: Enterprise Lumber Silo LLC
REDC: Western New York
Project: Red Barn Hudson Carbon Neutral Project
Award: $601,234.00
Company: South Front Street Holdings LLC
REDC: Capital Region
Project: The Plant Powerhouse Carbon Neutral Project
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: Mid Hudson
REDC: Adaptive Reuse
Project: Frederic Church Center
Award: $1,868,776.00
Company: The Olana Partnership Inc
REDC: Capital Region
Project: Eco-Maple Syrup Production Expansion
Award: $166,928.00
Company: Delaware County IDA
REDC: Finger Lakes
Project: Tower 3
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: 1500 Waters Place Realty LLC
REDC: New York City
Project: Historic Cohoes City Hall Carbon Neutral Initiative
Award: $ 1,050,000.00
Company: City of Cohoes
REDC: Capital Region
Project: Bethel Town Hall Renovation and Modernization
Award: $ 149,186.00
Company: Town of Bethel
REDC: Mid Hudson
Project: Capital Project
Award: $600,000.00
Company: Storm King Art Center
REDC: Mid Hudson
Project: Highland Passive House
Award: $1,303,157.00
Company: RTH Realty Holdings LLC.
REDC: Mid Hudson
Project: Rensselaer Childcare Center
Award: $900,000.00
Company: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
REDC: Capital Region
Project: GarageWORKS Studio
Award: $1,983,156.00
Company: GarageWORKS Studios LLC
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: The Brook Farmhouse
Award: $750,510.00
Company: Mohonk Preserve, Inc.
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: The Kaz
Award: $1,526,168.00
Company: Montgomery Street Projects LLC
REDC: Capital Region
Project: Columbia University Irving Medical Center Research Building
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: Columbia University Irving Medical Center
REDC: New York City
Project: Unity Hall Community Center
Award: $558,000.00
Company: Mohawk Valley Collective, Inc.
REDC: Mohawk Valley
Project: Underground Railroad Interpretive Center
Award: $1,107,457.00
Company: Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region Inc
REDC: Capital Region
Project: Siva Powers America Facility
Award: $519,000.00
Company: SIVA Powers America Inc
REDC: Western New York
Project: Cornwall Social
Award: $1,018,109.00
Company: Salisbury Mills Holdings LLC
REDC: Mid-Hudson
Project: GreenSpark Solar Green Workforce Training Center
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: Sustainable Energy Developments dba GreenSpark Solar
REDC: Finger Lakes
Carbon Neutral Planning/Roadmaps
The program no longer provides incentives for carbon neutral planning/roadmaps.
Project: Planning for Decarbonization at Rochester Institute of Technology and Rochester Regional Health
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
REDC: Finger Lakes
Project: Net Zero Energy Roadmap for UAlbany
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: University at Albany
REDC: Capital Region
Project: NYU Net Zero Energy for Economic Development
Award: $2,000,000.00
Company: New York University
REDC: New York City
Project: Binghamton University Clean Energy Master Plan
Award: $5,000,000.00
Company: Binghamton University
REDC: Southern Tier