Clean Wisconsin outlines state grant to help local governments update energy codes

Tom Hager, Clean Buildings Manager at Clean Wisconsin, told the Village of Cross Plains Sustainability Committee on Dec. 18, 2024, that a DOE-funded grant program — the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (REKI) project — is offering technical assistance to local governments on energy codes, building electrification and related policy tools.

Hager said the REKI project includes a municipal support program and a “Resilient and Efficient Buildings Local Government Advisor Group” that will produce a step‑by‑step roadmap for local governments, standalone resources and quarterly convenings. “So the project, is called the resilient and efficient codes implementation project,” Hager said.

The nut of Hager’s presentation was that while Wisconsin currently preempts local governments from adopting their own energy codes, municipalities still have several levers to improve building efficiency. The project’s work streams include support for a residential energy code update (a roughly 30‑month process), a baseline code compliance study led by Slipstream, development…