Here are your wEEkly Updates:
1. The Energy Efficiency Coordinating Committee has confirmed that March 16th, 2016 is the date for public sector business plan review. Meeting location is in Northern California, TBD, and can also be attended by WebEx. The meeting will be an unprecedented opportunity for interested parties to review the plans that Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) and other Program Administrators are developing for their public sector energy efficiency programming. For more background information, search “coordinating committee” on the http://eecoordinator.info website. If you would like to receive email updates on this directly, contact Lara Ettenson at lettenson@nrdc.org.
2. This year’s California Adaptation Forum will be held in Long Beach, CA Sept. 7th-8th, and the Call for Session Proposals is now open! The CAF is a place to connect with 1,000+ local government, business and community leaders and explore the diverse adaptation needs and solutions found across California. To submit a proposal or for more information, visit www.californiaadaptationforum.org.
3. Save the Date! A BayREN Forum, “Bridging the Gap: From Efficient Policies to Successful, On-the-Ground Implementation” will take place in Oakland, and by WebEx, on March 29th. For more information, click here.
4. Office hours for support in your use of the ClearPath suite of online tools are available twice monthly: this month’s will be March 10th and March 24th at 11am PST. New to ClearPath? Learn more here.
5. The Air Resources Board will be holding a public workshop on April 4th on the FY 2016-17 Funding Plan for Low Carbon Transportation and Fuels Investments and the Air Quality Improvement Program (AQIP). For more information, click here. The workshop will also be web-broadcast at http://www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/.
6. For those of you watching the cutting edge of new technologies, an article in Greentech Media covers the U.S. Department of Energy’s research program ARPA-E,’s public investment and the private investment, in technologies on the ARPA-E list. A direct list of the technologies reveals investments to integrate renewables in demand management, ferment methane into natural gas, develop miniature building heat pumps, and look at new energy storage solutions – including iron flow, all-electron, lithium sulfur, and alkaline batteries, high-power zinc-air and compressed air storage.
7. More news on innovations: of the nine teams vying for the U.S. Department of Energy’s $2.25 million Wave Energy Prize, three are from California! Follow the link to learn more about the innovative work in Sacramento, Berkeley, and Redwood City to capture energy from waves.
8. The CEC’s Blueprint Newsletter for March and April is out! The Newsletter covers everything from demand responsive controls and commissioning to small duct high-velocity HVAC systems, to upcoming free trainings. This is a great resource for building department leads and energy efficiency government leads, as well as contractors and other building professionals. Have a question? Contact the CEC’s Energy Standards Hotline.
9. Using data for building retrofits: an article from Energy Manager covers the value of data analytics in targeting the most cost-effective and beneficial energy-saving improvements.
10. Employee engagement and workplace strategies for EE success: an article in Environmental Leader interviews sustainability leadership at General Motors, and uncovers some great tips for generating support for sustainability initiatives in the workplace – support that has allowed GM to make 130 of their sites waste-free, and generate $1 billion from recycling. I have seen all of the major points made work for energy efficiency programming – definitely worth a read for those working on generating support throughout their government, or working with business or other community programs.
11. Continuing with stakeholder engagement: a reminder that a webinar covering best practices in community engagement via social media for environmental and energy program outreach is on 3/9. More information here.
12. Job announcement: The City of Pleasanton is looking for a Permit Center Manager! Visit the City’s jobs webpage and search “permit” for more information.
As always, you can keep track of relevant events by connecting to the EE Events Calendar, and find more resources on the EECoordinator website.