Addressing Energy Burden with home improvements

RREAL has traditionally focused on making renewable energy solutions available to disadvantaged rural communities and lower income households.  We recognize the challenges many families are facing is their current home is not efficient, staying warm in winter and cool in summer is taking too much of their income, that they can't afford food or other basic needs.  

There are federal and utility programs focused on helping homeowners and renters make their homes more energy efficient.  But, one of the challenges we've heard is the lack of contractors and workers to do this work, especially in rural communities.

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RREAL is exploring whether we can add value to the energy efficiency ecosystem by building a program to expand the capacity to do this work.  This will be a multi-year initiative to assess the needs of the communities, dimension the program, find the financial and human resources to lead and run the program.

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Watch for updates as 2026 progresses.