Jan 30, 2024 _ news

Finding Funds for Sustainability: GBBN’s IRA Calculator Goes Live!

GBBN has publicly released its Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Calculator, a tool that helps our clients—and now, the wider public—understand funding opportunities in the IRA for sustainable design.

“People generally understand the goals of the IRA, but in conversations with developers and others in the building industry, we’ve found they frequently don’t understand its details or the opportunities to support sustainability that it holds,” says GBBN Associate, Stefan Cornelis. “So, we set out with our partner, CMTA, to create a quick, easy-to-use tool that will help people test the financial impact of different sustainability strategies.”

By answering a brief series of questions about the sustainability features your project may involve—for example, does it include renewable energy, high-efficiency HVAC systems, or affordable housing—you can discover potential funding opportunities.

“It’s a bit like a mortgage calculator,” says GBBN Director of Sustainability & Resilience, Tiffany Broyles Yost AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Ambassador. “Without having to review the legislation yourself, it can help you figure out a sustainability strategy that makes sense for your project.”

The team that developed the IRA Calculator tested it with several real-world case studies and found that individual projects can be eligible for hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of dollars in incentives to support sustainable design.

“This is great news,” explains Tiffany. “With lower operational costs and increased resilience, healthy, sustainable design is frequently more attractive over the long-term, but higher upfront costs often lead people to sacrifice these long-term outcomes to make the financing work in the short-term.”

The IRA Calculator is not a substitute for professional tax advice, but it can help developers take the right questions to their financial team.

Access our IRA Calculator here. Learn more about GBBN’s approach to sustainability here.