Posted on: October 15, 2025
Source: www.denvergov.org
Denver is working towards a zero-emission future by 2040. Newly constructed buildings can plan to be highly efficient, all-electric and designed to leading standards such as Passive House. We intend to meet Denver’s decarbonization goals by offering a monetary incentive for a limited number of new affordable housing projects to use all-electric space and water heating. Some of those projects may also pursue Passive House design and construction certifications.
This pilot program has funding to support about 10 new affordable housing projects, and may reach capacity quickly. Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. We are reserving $500,000 of this funding pot specifically for Passive House certifications. We encourage you to consider whether this certification is possible for your project. Once the program has reached capacity, new applications will be placed onto a waitlist.
Within the Pilot Rebate Program, approved affordable housing projects can get rebates to install the following heat pump equipment, up to a maximum amount of $600,000 per project:
- Heat pump rooftop units
- Ducted cold climate split air-source heat pumps
- Non-ducted cold climate mini-split air-source heat pumps
- Heat pump hot water heaters
- Variable refrigerant flow heat pumps
- Cold climate packaged terminal heat pumps
- Cold climate single packaged vertical heat pumps
- Water source heat pumps
- Ground source heat pumps
Additionally, these projects can get rebates to help offset the cost of designing to Passive House standards through either Passive House Institute (PHI) or Passive House Institute US (Phius).
Funding is available for projects at different points in the design and construction process:
Timeline | Rebate | Rebate Amount |
Pre-Construction | Passive House Design Certification Rebate | $600 per dwelling unit, up to $150,000 |
Post-Construction | Passive House Certification Rebate | $3,000 per dwelling unit, up to $500,000 |
This incentive program aligns with the Legislative Declaration establishing the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (Sec. 2-404 D.R.M.C.) as well as the Permitted Uses of Revenue in the Climate Protection Fund (Sec. 2-405 of the D.R.M.C.).
Source: www.denvergov.org
SAP Feature:
SAP Feature:As signatories of the AIA 2030 Challenge, VMWP has committed to make all new buildings and renovations carbon-neutral by the year 2030 to mitigate the catastrophic effects of climate change caused by the building sector. As part of our Sustainability Action Plan (SAP), we vow to share our knowledge of sustainability practices with our design community.