Challenges and Opportunities for Home Decarbonization

This report outlines new and innovative strategies needed to achieve substantial carbon
dioxide (CO2) reductions in the US housing stock. Rather than presenting a guide to home
decarbonization that includes well-established approaches and technologies, this report is
focused on challenges to enable decarbonization of large numbers of existing homes as
soon as possible. This report identifies the key opportunities to overcome these challenges,
with a particular emphasis on helping the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Building
Technology Office (BTO) achieve its vision of low/no carbon emission existing homes by
2050.
Decarbonizing the US housing stock is a complex and difficult undertaking. However, recent
US federal government initiatives are providing considerable support by investing in
buildings infrastructure. This report provides targeted guidance and background information
to help residential building sector initiatives succeed.