Funding For Passive House Training

Funding & Scholarships For Passive House Training

Fund your high-performance, low carbon, and green building training with incentives for Passive building science.

Funding and Incentives for Passive House Training

Attending a training in Passive House building science is a key step that enables construction professionals to design and build high-performance, low-carbon buildings, regardless of green building certification goals.
Because of the importance of these professional education programs, local entities provide incentives for Passive House training in the form of scholarships, rebates, and reimbursements. The funding available for this type of building science training in the US varies from state to state and from city to city. On this page, we have listed the ones we’re aware of, sorted by state.

Sources of Funding for High-Performance Building Training

The scholarships and reimbursement programs listed here come from different entities. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and other states have statewide incentives tied to professional certification, including Passive House (e.g., CPHT certification).

The Massachusetts Mass Save reimbursement program is an example of a statewide program where the funding provider reimburses a significant amount of the training expenses for local professionals who become Passive House-certified.

Individual cities (e.g., the cities of Denver and Fort Collins, in Colorado) have scholarship and rebate programs to incentivize Passive building training of professionals operating in their territory.

Similarly, some counties have incentive programs to develop the local workforce and advance their education on building science best practices. For example, in California, 3C-REN fully covers the Emu training fees for professionals operating in their territory.

Local green building associations such as Passive House California and the Colorado Green Building Guild have scholarship programs to support green building training within their territories.

Furthermore, local utility companies provide reimbursements for construction professionals who become Passive House-certified. An example of this is the Xcel reimbursement program for Emu’s Passive House training in Colorado.

Who Can Access These Green Building Education Incentives

Most of the incentives for Passive building and high-performance construction training programs are designed for construction professionals. Typical recipients of these green building scholarships include builders, general contractors, architects, designers, and other construction professionals.

Sometimes the construction workforce training scholarship programs are designed to fund the training of new employees, as in the case of the IWT program in Montana and similar programs in New England (e.g., in Maine).
The requirements to access these green building training funds vary depending on the entity that curates the program. For more information, please review the program details and contact the specific incentive provider.

Passive House Training: Incentive Amounts and Methodologies

The amount of funding available for individual Passive building scholarships varies significantly depending on the incentive program—from a few hundred dollars to covering the full tuition of the training.

The funding method for the building science education program also varies. A common funding approach for subsidizing these high-performance building programs is the reimbursement of the training fees once the training is complete.

In other cases, the funding entity may provide pre-paid coupon codes to prospective training participants for a partial or full amount of the training fees. A third type of funding for Passive House education is where the funding entity organizes and pays in full for an Emu Boot Camp and enrolls eligible participants according to their program requirements.

Example of a Passive House Incentive Application and Reimbursement Process

The application process and the eligibility requirements vary depending on the specific program.

Example A – Fully Funded Passive House Boot Camp Training

This is a typical process for fully funded Passive building education programs, such as the 3C-REN Boot Camps (details may vary):

You apply to participate in the Boot Camp
The funding entity verifies your eligibility (depending on their specific requirements)
Once approved, you’re automatically enrolled in the Boot Camp

Example B – Passive House Boot Camp Training With Partial or Full Reimbursement of the Registration Fees

This is a typical incentive process for building science education programs with a partial or full reimbursement of the training fees. For example, the MassSave program in Massachusetts and the Xcel program in Colorado follow this reimbursement process to fund Passive House Boot Camp training.

You apply for the reimbursement program
The funding entity verifies your eligibility
You purchase the training ticket from Emu’s website (pay in full upfront)
You attend the Boot Camp
Once the training is over, Emu issues you a certificate of attendance
The funding entity reimburses the training fees partially or in full (depending on the program and your eligibility)

Alabama

We are not aware of any funding in this state. Please email us at training[at]emupassive.com with any information we can add.

Alaska

We are not aware of any funding in this state. Please email us at training[at]emupassive.com with any information we can add.

Arizona

We are not aware of any funding in this state. Please email us at training[at]emupassive.com with any information we can add.

California

Please contact us to receive information for the following funding options.

3C-REN and Emu organize one Passive House Boot Camp training event per year in the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura. The tuition fees are covered in full for residents of the three counties, and for construction professionals that operate in their territory. APPLY HERE.

Passive House California subsidizes Emu’s Passive House training for California residents.

Colorado

Colorado Green Building Guild (CGBG) offers scholarships to cover part of Emu’s Passive House training for Colorado residents. Apply here.

The City of Denver offers up to $2500 to cover Emu’s Passive House training (Certified Passive House Tradesperson, CPHT). Read more here.

The City of Fort Collins has fundings available for Emu’s Passive House training for their residents, and for construction professionals that operate in their territory. The scholarship covers up to $1200/person, and up to $2500 per organization. Apply here.

Xcel reimburses up to 90% of Emu’s Passive House tuition fees for builders and architects that operate within their electricity service area. Apply here.

Connecticut

Through the Energize Connecticut program, residents may be eligible for up to 50% reimbursement of fees. Please contact Connecticut Passive House for details.