The Alaska Energy Authority administered a commercial building energy audit (CBEA) program, funded through the USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), with the purpose of improving the energy efficiency of commercial building infrastructure in areas of the state defined as rural by USDA – all parts of the state outside of the Municipality of Anchorage.
The CBEA program provided high quality energy audits to rural commercial building owners and commercial fishing vessels that identified and quantified the value of energy efficiency measures that could be implemented specific to their structure. These energy reports allow building and vessel owners to apply for the USDA REAP energy efficiency improvement grants, which fund up to 25% of the cost of the energy upgrades analyzed in the report.
Nonresidential buildings consume more than half the building energy use in Alaska, and the majority of these buildings are privately owned. Results of past similar programs indicate average energy savings of roughly 1/3 resulting from economic efficiency investments with average simple paybacks of just over six years.
This program ended June 2019. We hope to provide this opportunity in the future.