Here
are your WEEkly Updates:
1. Registration
has opened for the 7th Annual SEEC Forum! The Forum
will be held June 15th-16th in Riverside, CA and
will feature updates from key state leaders, up to 16 breakout sessions sharing
local government energy and climate best practices and lessons learned, and
constant networking opportunities to learn the latest in energy activities from
across the state. Registration is no-cost to local governments. Click here to
learn more or to register.
2. Interested
in having a CivicSpark AmeriCorps fellow during the 2016-17 service year? CivicSpark
is a great way for local governments to find capacity for energy efficiency and
sustainability efforts - and educate future local government leaders. The
program is recruiting now, and is ready to answer your questions. Informational
webinars will be held Wednesday, April 13th at 1pm and
Wednesday, April 27th at 10am. Click here to
register.
3. Resources
and Opportunities at the State Level, 101: In response to local government
requests, SEEC will be holding a webinar: State-Level EE 101: Agencies
Furthering Energy Efficiency, How they Work, & Resources & Processes
Local Governments Can Leverage. The goal will be to give local government
energy efficiency leaders a sense of what opportunities there are on the state
level to provide feedback, shape current activities, and leverage state
requirements and resources in strategic planning and implementation of energy
projects. For more information, and registration, click here.
4. Best
practices for Zero Net Energy: NREL Commercial Buildings Principal Engineer
Paul Torcellini will participate in an upcoming ASHRAE Webcast - Making Net
Zero Positive: Solving the Efficiency and Cost Paradox - April 21, 2016 at
1:00pm. Click here for
more information and registration.
5.
For those that missed the AB 802 workshop held by the CEC last
week, notes on items discussed and a link to the saved recording on the CEC’s
website is available here.
Any comments must be submitted to the CEC by April 8th.
6.
The Energy Data Access Committee also met last week – a
summary of items discussed that may be of interest to local governments is
available here.
7.
The Alliance to Save Energy’s recent
article shares why homeowners should care about building energy
codes: energy efficiency adds value to a home. A great initiative
adding transparency to this, and empowering homebuyers and sellers to make
market-driven choices and improvements is the application of the Department of
Energy’s Home Energy Score in Berkeley’s new Building Energy Savings
Ordinance (BESO). Read more on the Ordinance's goals, and
implementation, here.
8.
While on residential programs, congratulations to the San Gabriel
Valley Council of Governments for a strong first year of their Energy
Assessment Screening for Your Home, or “EASY” Program! Supported by the SCE and
SCG through the San Gabriel Valley Energy Watch, the EASY Program provides
residents with free home assessments and customized home reports with
information on smart upgrade opportunities as well as utility incentives to
support them. As of January, the EASY Program had provided well over 100
assessments in 19 cities. For more information, click here.
9. High-tech
EE in residential: The U.S. DOE has a great story and video on high-tech
options on the horizon for residential. Click here to
review.
10.
Jumping to EE activities in the commercial sector: the U.S. EPA and
U.S. DOE have released their 2016 Energy Star Partner of the Year Award winners
to honor outstanding achievements in energy efficiency – which include two
businesses in California. Click here to
learn what these businesses are doing to save energy, and share some great
ideas your commercial community partners.
11. More value for commercial partners: for 6 Benefits of Becoming a Sustainable Business, learn more in an Environmental Leader article here.
12. EE Opportunities in IT: Many think of server closets and data centers as spaces that just have to use lots of energy. However, the energy intensity of data center and IT space often makes it ripe for opportunities to save. Microsoft’s new data center Sustainability Chief explains how energy efficiency saves money and allows greater operation in a smaller footprint, here. For more resources on energy efficiency in IT, click here.
13. The California Financing Coordinating Committee has released its 2016 Funding Fair schedule – the Fair events are a great way for local and tribal governments to connect with a variety of financing and funding opportunities for water and energy infrastructure projects. To learn more and review the schedule, click here.
14. Funding
review: This was a popular item last week, so for those that missed it:
$569M has been made available from federal agencies for energy and other
activities – click here to
learn more. A new U.S. Department of Transportation grant program has made
$800M available, with applications due April 14th: More here.
15. Congratulations
also to the City of Hayward for winning the Acterra 2016 Business
Environmental Award for its green power initiative at the City’s water pollution
plant! Learn
more about how the City is leveraging incoming credits from renewable
generation to fund energy efficiency and sustainability projects (and connect
to a great video on operations at the facility).
16.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has developed a list of Title 24
energy code trainings that will be made available through different
ICC chapters. Click here for
more information.
17.
The CEC’s 2016 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) Update is
underway: click here to
learn about scoped Update topics and schedule for release.
As
always, you can keep track of relevant events by connecting to the EE
Events Calendar, and find more resources being added daily on the EECoordinator website.