Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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.