Suppose you can't get your home down 75% from current levels because, well, let's use my own house as an example: Solid brick construction of aproximately 1000sq. ft. with a flat roof. I have already installed a high-efficiency furnace(6-7000USD: 92+ AFUE), a TPO(thermoplastic polyolefin) roof w/1.5" polyiso insulation(6600USD). I was planning on solar thermal water heating, but my budget ran out. Since I'm also restoring some of the houses' architectural historic elements(original galvanised cornice and associated parapet cap pieces, windows, brick repointing), my budget was to improve and stabilise the exterior of the building so that over the years I could concentrate on the interior without worrying if I'll need more exterior work. All of this has cost in excess of 22,000USD, not counting the insulation I'll be putting in the attic crawlspace of my flat-roof home, or the cornice work. The cost of blown-in insulation will only be 6-700USD, but in order for the contractor to access the entire space, I'll need to hire someone to come in and drywall, tape and mud the holes I'll need to make in the ceiling (approx. 1'x 12' in the back-of-the-house kitchen, and 1' x 1' in the front of the house), another couple of hundred, offhand. I'm not certain how else we'll be able to incur any more savings. PV is not an option, simply too much cost. Furring out the interior walls and insulation the cavities would also involve a significent cost, in addition to the fact we'll need to move out of the house for a month or two while the work is done. Three cats, all of our stuff we can't cram into our basement, living expenses while we're away from the house (we might be better than some: my older bro' owns 4-5 rental properties on his block. One or two units always seem to be vacant). All of this is good idea, but you'll have to illustrate how urban homeowners with solid-masonry construction will ba able to benefit. Well, anyone with solid-masonry construction. In addition, if all the components are not installed properly, the 75% figure won't be acheived. I'd love to remove a large portion of my energy expenses from the oil, gas and coal/nuke nipple, but my guess is that because of the type of constuction, my options may be limited to such an extent that I couldn't benefit from this program. So I'll need the nice architects at A2030 to explain how I, as the owner of a solid-masonry structure, may benefit from their program. Get to work, folks...

The mellotron is your friend.

There are a variety of building types that might be a challenge, but I'm on board - although I'm glad it's a voluntary program because I don't wanted to be boxed into a corner.

With property values falling, upside-down property values, and more foreclosures, it does seem to be an uphill fight. Maybe start off by saying the example house is $250K but is worth only $200K on the market, and then walk us through the math.

Aha! If you sell the house, you've jacked up the mortgage price to almost $300K but the value is still ... $200K. To sell, one would have to fork over more money or do something really radical like walking away from it. Oops, energy savings didn't turn into any real market value, did it?

To fix the problem, either side will work - $50K for the mortgage relief or nearly that for the energy improvement.  Take your pick.  

Onward through the fog

There are 3 other tiers of mortgage rate buy downs, 30% below and 50% below code and carbon neutral. Download the Plan for these. Not knowing your particular building or where you live I suggest the following. First the easy applications, overhangs on south windows, summer shading on west windows for lowering cooling bills, insulating window quilts for nightime insulation over glazing in cold climates. On  historic flat roof buildings in cold climates, you may be able to add skylights with skylids to turn them in heat gainers in winter and shaded and operable in summer for natural ventilation. Solar hot water is an add-on, cost effective, 30% tax credit from the Feds and other tax credits and incentives in many states. Photovoltaics is also an add-on with a 30% Fed tax credit, many states also have incentives. When the solar incentives are added to the mortgage rate buy down it becomes a positive cash flow investment. I'm sure there are many other strategies and products that can help you meet one of the targets.