New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program offers the Residential New Construction Program to incentivize the construction of new homes that meet standards for the following: IECC 2015, EPA ENERGY STAR Certified New Homes, Multifamily High-Rise and the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Program. The program provides a range of financial incentives depending on the energy efficiency of the homes. Both single family and multifamily buildings are eligible for the program.  

Program Description 

The Program offers builders flexibility and options to participate in the program by building homes to varying standards or guidelines. In all cases, the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index is used to calculate the home’s energy efficiency achieved and to determine the cash rebate the builder will earn. The three standards are outlined below:

• ENERGY STAR Certified Home v 3.1 Requirements

Builders can choose to construct a home in conformance with ENERGY STAR v3.1 specifications and can earn the ENERGY STAR certification for the home. In this case, the rater will score the home’s performance using the HERS rating system. Table 1 below displays the incentives based on HERS Index. The home must meet or exceed the HERS Index Target, comply with all ENERGY STAR v. 3.1 mandated requirements and checklists and construction documents are required.

• Zero Energy Ready Home & Zero Energy Home + RE
  

Builders can choose to build the home in conformance with the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home specification which are above ENERGY STAR v3.1 specifications, meet 2015 IECC insulation requirements, and certify to EPA’s Indoor airPLUS Program. The program also has a Zero Energy Ready Home 100% Renewables offering whereby 100% of the building’s modeled electric site energy usage must be met by renewable energy systems installed onsite at the time of completion of the home.  

• ENERGY STAR Multi-Family High Rise

Builders must meet or exceed EPA ENERGY STAR Multifamily High Rise (MFHR) Program standards including:

1. Following Performance Path, which utilizes ASHRAE approved energy modeling software to determine energy savings of a customized set of measures;
2. Align with EPA guidance to allow multiple baseline codes with corresponding percent above code requirements.

Incentive Structure

The incentive structure offers the builder varying incentive amounts based on the type of residence (single-family, townhouse, and multi-family) and the level of energy efficiency that the home achieves compared to a reference home. Details of this structure, is available on the program website. Please contact the program administrator for more information.