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Blog / Infrastructure and Community Resilience

Building Clean: Improving Efficiency, Health, and Equity in Housing and Creating Good Jobs

When buildings are designed, built, and maintained to protect the health of people and the environment—and if the manufacturing of building products and materials create good-paying union jobs in the U.S.—then the wellbeing of people and communities will improve, especially for people of color. Building Clean works to increase the use of building products that are more efficient, less toxic, and manufactured in the U.S. We aim to improve the physical, environmental, and economic health of communities and promote a more equitable future for all.

Policy Priorities / Clean Economy Union Jobs

Solidarity for Climate Action: The Plan We Need to Get American Manufacturing Back on Track

Manufacturing towns dot the nation, and advanced manufacturing helps provide the foundation for the economy in major regions of the United States. Industries like the steel and automotive industries supported good-paying jobs, middle-class families, and prosperous communities for decades, while also spurring American leadership in innovation and technology. That’s still true in some areas. But in many others, factories have closed or new industries offer jobs that all too often are poorly paid, insecure, or unsafe.

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Blog / Building Clean

Toxic Inequity Indoors: The Disproportionate Impact of Hazardous Chemicals on Communities of Color

Across the country, the places we call home are silently harming us—but not equally. Indoor environments often harbor invisible threats in the form of toxic chemicals embedded in building materials, furnishings, and finishes. While all people are vulnerable to this type of chemical exposure, systemic inequalities have led to people of color bearing a disproportionate burden of these harms. To help call attention to these inequities, Building Clean developed a literature review making the connection between health implications, health hazards, and people of color.

Press Releases & Statements / Buildings

BlueGreen Alliance Lauds New EPA Lead Dust Rules

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced strengthened lead dust rules to protect more than a million people in the United States, including young children. The United States substantially lowered the allowable level of lead in paint in 1978. But in buildings constructed before 1978—including homes, schools, and day care centers—the lead in older paint is released when it chips or during sanding or other renovation procedures.

Press Releases & Statements / Buildings

Net-Zero School Tour Highlights New Federal Funding Opportunities with Clean Energy Tax Credits

Labor, education, and community leaders met Thursday at Forest Edge Elementary School in Fitchburg, WI to explore the clean tech upgrades made to the school that are examples of projects that would be eligible for brand new federal tax credits for school districts, municipalities, and other tax-exempt entities through a U.S. Treasury program called “direct pay,” which functions like a cash reimbursement from the IRS.

Press Releases & Statements / Buildings

Bill to Secure School HVAC Improvements Passes the Colorado Legislature

A bill passed yesterday by the Colorado legislature, the HVAC Improvements for Public Schools bill, will create pathways for Colorado public schools to receive federal funding for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and air quality improvements. This legislation will also help school districts secure matching funds through the state and satisfy new federal funding requirements put in place to ensure that work is done by qualified workers and that jobs created by federal investment are good-paying jobs

Reports & Fact Sheets / Buildings

Federal Government Will Reimburse Public or Non-Profit Hospitals up to 50% for Clean Energy Projects

 The Inflation Reduction Act expanded the availability of clean energy tax credits so that tax-exempt entities like public and non-profit hospitals can receive “direct pay” (also known as “elective pay”). In simple terms, direct pay allows such entities to recoup a significant portion of a clean energy project’s cost as a tax-free cash payment from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Reports & Fact Sheets / Buildings

Federal Government to Reimburse Schools for up to 50% for Clean Energy Projects

Building healthier schools is within reach. Up to half the cost of a clean energy project at your school could be refunded to the district under the federal Inflation Reduction Act. Tax-exempt entities such as public schools can receive “direct pay” (also known as “elective pay”). In simple terms, direct pay lets school districts recoup a significant portion of a clean energy project’s cost as a cash payment from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

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