In year 2009, the president of the United States of America signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 wherein an appropriation amounting to $50 million serving as an Energy Innovation Fund was included.

The Energy Innovation Fund was directed into the discovery of innovations with regards to the residential energy efficiency sector and to help in the creation ofthe development of a standardized home power efficient retrofit market.

Of the said amount, the Congress directed that $25 million shall be for the Multifamily Energy Pilot Program which has been exclusively generated for multifamily housing markets.

Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, the Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD), has recently announced a funding opportunity entitled Energy Innovation Fund: Multifamily Pilot Program.

This funding opportunity supports innovations in financing and conducting applied scientific studies with the idea of addressing primary concerns halting the retrofitting of certain multifamily residential properties in their quest towards achieving energy efficiency on a highly practical basis.

The funding announcement is likewise driven towards the accomplishment of the following objectives:

a) demonstrate approaches to eliminate or address the concerns against the implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements in present multifamily properties

b) provide private capital and additional public funding to show "proof of concept"

c) implement applied research strategies to document and disseminate mainstream, scalable approaches useful in the process of retrofitting affordable multifamily properties

For this program, HUD will be granting 2 types of awards, first will be for Financing Demonstrations and the other one would be for Applied Research Demonstrations.

HUD has allocated an anticipated ceiling budget amounting to $25 million just for this project. Interested applicants need to submit their applications electronically to the Grants.gov website. Deadline of these applications will be on October 20, 2011.

Interested applicants will be deemed eligible to apply for this program if they are/belong to any of the following:

a) Treasury-certified community development finance institutions

b) National, regional, or local private or non-profit entities currently administering affordable housing development and rehabilitation programs

c) Special purpose financing entities such as housing trust funds whose primary intent is the preservation and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing services for low-income households

d) Nonprofit or for-profit organizations that own or control a substantial portfolio of Eligible Multifamily Properties

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the key agency funding this program, is the government's principal agency responsible for increasing homeownership, supporting community development and increasing access to affordable housing opportunities.

Iola Bonggay is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants one the the most comprehensive Websites offering information on government grants and federal government programs. government grants and education grant money.. This article, Department of Housing and Urban Development finances the Energy Innovation Funds for Multifamily Pilot Program has free reprint rights.