Demand Response

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. Resilience Webinar 8/4: Comprehensive plans and local land use codes and ordinances drive much of the climate resilience related decision making at the local level, and thus is one key target for climate integration. Learn more about tying codes and ordinances to resilience goals in this Climate Solutions University (CSU) webinar.

2. ARB Public Workshops beginning 8/9:  The California Air Resources Board (ARB) invites you to participate in public workshops to discuss updates to ARB’s Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) Policy to benefit disadvantaged communities. (A SEP is an environmentally beneficial project that a person subject to an enforcement action voluntarily agrees to undertake in settlement of the action and to offset a portion of a civil penalty.)

3. CPUC Lighting Research Plan Webinar 8/1: The 2015 Upstream and Residential Downstream Lighting Program Impact Evaluation Research Plan has been posted to the CPUC’s public document site for review and comment, and a webinar to review will be held on August 1st.

4. CPUC Behavioral Program Research Plan Webinar 8/1: The Draft Impact Evaluation Research Plan for the Program Administrators 2015 behavior programs (home energy and home utility reports) has been posted to the CPUC’s public document site for review and comment, and a webinar to review will be held on August 1st.

5. FHA’s PACE Guidance Reviewed: In case you missed this week’s webinar explaining last week’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announcement of clear guidance that will expand access to PACE program renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other home resiliency projects, a webinar recording is now available.

6. CPUC EE Program Review: the final version of the “2015 Custom Impact Research Plan Addendum – Sampling – through Q4 2015” has been posted on the CPUC energy efficiency public documents website. The comment period on this document will last until August 8th.

7. Study Reviews EE Behavioral Programs Correcting Market Failure: Energy efficiency—using less energy to provide an equivalent level of service—is part of the climate policy portfolio. Market failures might warrant encouraging energy efficiency, but an important justification comes from the realm of behavioral economics: that people erroneously underinvest in it. This creates difficulties for policy evaluation, which assumes that people’s choices, including energy efficiency investments, reflect actual preferences. Continue reading the abstract (and more) of this new study from Resources for the Future.

8. DR and Storage to Improve Air Quality: A new study proposes storage and demand response to avoid extra air pollution while meeting peak demand – and tests their framework using data from California’s grid.

9. New Los Angeles Microgrid: The Port of Los Angeles will be the site of a $27 million solar+storage pilot program that aims to show how carbon-free energy solutions can help make marine terminal operations more efficient and have less environmental impact.

10. 15-Second “Flash” Charging EV Buses Launched:  In Switzerland, a new line of buses can be topped off in a few seconds and fully charged in minutes.

11. $4.5 Billion for EV Innovation: The White House has also announced $4.5 Billion in loan guarantees for EV charging innovation. Considering electric buses in your own fleet, and want to understand what this would do to your energy efficiency? Learn more about electric vehicle infrastructure deployment planning.

12. Wave Technology Investment: More on new technologies: Oregon State University’s Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center and CalWave are competing to build a wave energy test site – and the US Department of Energy said that it will release up to $40 million for the effort.

13. EE Internationally: new figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show world energy intensity has steadily decreased by nearly 33 percent in the last 15 years – and credits national and subnational energy policies as a major contributing factor.

14. New tool tracks electric supply, demand and recovery: The EIA has also launched its Electric System Operating Data Tool, which provides nearly real-time data, analysis, and visualizations of hourly, daily, and weekly electricity supply and demand on a national and regional level and for all of the 66 electric systems that make up the U.S. electric grid.

15. Job announcement: the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is hiring for a Commercial Development Consultant! Learn more here. 

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 – including past WEEkly Updates. 



That’s all for this week!



Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. Events today: the CEC is holding a workshop in Sacramento and by WebEx for public input on the proposed scope and schedule of the Energy Commission’s Senate Bill 350 (SB350) Barriers Study. The study focuses on barriers to access for low-income customers and disadvantaged communities to energy efficiency and renewable energy investments.

2. Event reminder: if you haven’t registered for this year’s SEEC Forum, do so before registration fills up! The 7th Annual SEEC Forum will be held in Riverside June 15th-16th with two full days of sessions led by cities, counties, state, utility, and energy representatives, held at no-cost to local governments.

3. ACEEE’s Summer Study: Registration is open for ACEEE's 19th biennial Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings in Pacific Grove, California, August 21-26.

4. Conference: the Next Generation Energy System: Greentech Media will host their Grid Edge World Forum in San Jose, California, June 21-23. Click here to register.

5. Demand response webinar 6/9: Learn from EnergyHub about how to create a best-in-class “Bring Your Own Thermostat” (BYOT) demand response program with high participation rates in their upcoming webinar.

6. Microgrids webinar 6/16: Learn more the why, when, and how for optimal microgrid deployment in this upcoming webinar.

7. Online office hours 6/14 and 6/28: Looking for support on SEEC’s ClearPath greenhouse gas inventory and climate action planning tool? Online office hours are scheduled for Tuesday 6/14 and 6/28 at 11am.

8. Energy data access survey reminder: local governments have a special opportunity to provide input on their experiences accessing energy data for climate action planning to the state’s Energy Data Access Committee. This survey will be closing soon – please provide your experiences to help guide data access policies.

9. Local government action on Climate Action Plans: Congratulations to San Bernardino’s Victorville for passing its climate action plan, and to Sebastapol for adopting 13 goals from the region’s “Climate Action 2020” plan. (For more on climate action plans, click here.)

10. New funding for climate change resilience: PG&E has just announced plans to award $1 million to support local climate change resilience planning. Two grants of $100,000 will be awarded per year for five years beginning in 2017.

11. Funding reminder: deadlines are coming up for applications to federal funds for local pollution source reduction ($2.2M due 6/6), disaster and flood mitigation ($289M due 6/15),  community resilience ($4.5M due 6/20),  HUD choice neighborhoods ($120M due 6/28), and more.

12. EE and Solar Save California $192 Million? Hear from Greentech Media about how the great work in our cities and counties is reducing the need for new investment.

13. The value of cool roofs: Just in time for summer: a new study has reviewed the potential for cool roofs and green roofs to reduce urban heat island effect and improve air quality in the City of Chicago. For more on cool roofs in California, click here.

14. EE for realtors: A two-day training event for National Association of Realtor (NAR) Green Designation will be held in Yolo County June 14th-15th, connecting realtors with the value proposition of green homes and how to sell to home buyers increasingly interested in high home efficiency and performance. This event has no registration fee thanks to support from PG&E.  Please share with your real estate community! (Looking for more resources on the business case for efficient buildings? Click here.)

15. Green lease resources: I recently put out an ask to the network regarding green lease resources on behalf of several interested local governments – and received a number of great recommendations of resources. I’ve added them to the EECoordinator.info website – search green lease to review. Or, check out a new report prepared for the Port of San Diego on sustainable incentives best practices.

16. More on green leases and green tenants: Or, check out Portland’s Green Tenant Improvement Guide, a publication by the DOE looking at the feasibility of energy efficiency in separate tenant spaces, or this 2015 EPA publication sharing case studies of how landlords and tenants have overcome split incentive and other challenges to achieve energy efficient, high-performing buildings.

17. EE through building user feedback: check out how UC Davis is reducing building energy waste and improving student comfort through a new app.

18. ZNE in a Sunnyvale Racquetball Facility: Learn in this new video about how architects, developers and builders took a windowless, concrete “tilt-up” racquetball facility and retrofitted it to a desirable, zero net energy (ZNE) commercial property cost-effectively, repurposing nearly 95% of materials and creating a comfortable work environment.

19. New developments in Zero Net Energy: from Hayward’s new commitments to ZNE in municipal buildings, to Palo Alto’s work toward a new reach code, to Lancaster’s award of $1.47M for conversion to ZNE, local governments are acting on ZNE across the state. Learn more here.

20. Electric vehicles as a Distributed Energy Resource (DER): two new online videos on electric vehicles came out in the last week: learn from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and SDG&E about best practices in deploying electric vehicles as a distributed energy resource.

21. SCE’s Charge Ready Program: for those in Edison territory, a new video provides an overview of new electric vehicle offerings.

22. Job announcements: the Local Government Commission is hiring for a Energy Program Manager! Learn more here. LGC is also hiring for an IT Assistant – more here.

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 – including past WEEkly Updates. 



That’s all for this week!



Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. EE Coordinating Committee Update: Interested in how agricultural energy efficiency programs will provide funding in coming years? The Agricultural Subcommittee meeting is going on today – click here to learn how to join in person or by phone/web.

2. For a weekly round up from the Coordinating Committee, click here.

3. More on EE Program Planning: as the business plans for future EE programming develop, the CPUC shares additional guidance on what those business plans should look like. To learn more, click here.

4. Save the Date: Weatherization Program Development: The Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) is hosting a public comment opportunity on the design of the Low Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) June 2nd. More information is available here.

5. Save the Date: Upcoming Codes and Standards: BayREN will be holding a Forum on June 22nd covering what’s new in the 2016 codes and standards (which become effective January 1st). To learn more, click here.

6. Evaluating EE Programs: The U.S. EPA is holding a webinar on May 23rd to share best practices in planning and budgeting for EE program evaluation. For more click here.

7. EE and Clean Energy Results and Best Practices: The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge partners are showing powerful results, and the Challenge released a Progress Update this week to show it. The Better Buildings Challenge is also kicking off three new Accelerator programs, focusing on low-income, CHP, and wastewater. See more on the Partners, and the results, here.

8. New Low-Income EE/Renewable Resources: PG&E is joining the Better Buildings Challenge’s new Low Income Communities Accelerator, bringing more resources to disadvantaged communities – learn more here.

9. ESA Program Boost to Mitigate Blackout Risks: SCE and SoCal Gas will be offering more through a $250 million add to the Energy Savings Assistance program – learn more here.

10. New List of All Climate Change Investments Released by ARB: for more, click here.

11. Water and Climate: A new report from the UN states that water is the climate challenge.  For information on big opportunities for water savings in California shared by an engineering firm in the recent public sector subcommittee meeting, new resources from San Diego County Water Authority, and more on what local governments are doing to reduce water consumption, click here.

12. Roadmap for Microgrid Commercialization: Interested in microgrids? The CEC, CPUC, and CAISO are holding a workshop May 24th to kick off development of a roadmap for microgrid commercialization in California. Learn more here.

13. Deep Retrofits for Small Businesses: Congratulations to the Association of Bay Area Governments for being awarded funding under the U.S. DOE’s Commercial Buildings Integration Program! Learn more here.

14. EE and solar installed in Yuba City: Congrats to Yuba City for completing installations of solar and energy efficiency measures in 16 city facilities. For more on what they’re saving through their energy performance contract, click here. For more on performance contracting in California, click here.

15. California’s Solar Ordinances in the News: Environmental Leader covers how requirements for solar help grow the solar market and the ability for solar to provide a direct return on investment. For more click here.

16. EJAC meeting online: If you missed the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee meeting this week, you can watch it online here.

17. Best Practices in Multi-Family EE Programming: reaching EE savings in multi-family residential can be challenging, but holds great opportunities. Learn more on best practices in program approach from ACEEE here. For more multi-family resources, click here.

18. New numbers on DR: Greentech Media finds more than 9.3 million customers in the U.S. are enrolled in demand response.

19. EVs Spread in Sonoma: Learn more about how Sonoma Clean Power is growing its electric vehicle footprint in 500 new charging stations here. For more on electric vehicles, click here.

20. Job announcements: San Francisco State is hiring for a Senior Director of Facilities Operations and a Senior Energy Manager! Learn more here.

21. Job announcement: California State University is hiring for a Sustainability Program Assistant! Learn more here.

22. A 1-Question Survey: Build It Green is looking for answers, or specifically, one answer, on local government interest in energy ordinance tracking. To help them out, click here.

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.



That’s all for this week!

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. EECC Stage 2 Update: Stage 2 Subcommittee meetings of the EE Coordinating Committee are underway, offering stakeholders a great and unprecedented chance to hear and get involved in the funds and offerings of future energy efficiency programs. The Public Sector Subcommittee Meeting will be held this Monday, May 2nd , and can be attended in San Diego, San Francisco, or by WebEx. Workforce Education and Training, Codes and Standards, Emerging Technologies, and Industrial Subcommittee Stage 2 meetings are all being held this week as well. Commercial and residential Stage 2 meetings were held earlier this week. This process is moving very quickly and will wrap up in a few months, and stakeholder feedback is critical – if you have any questions on how to get involved visit caeecc.org or contact me at any time.

2. Millions of $ in Federal Funding: click here to review the U.S. EPA’s local government newsletter, sharing $889M available for local government and tribal energy efficiency and sustainability. ($500M closes today – TIGER applicants, don’t forget to submit!)

3. Post Earth Day Climate Action Updates: Earth Day resulted in the signing of Paris Agreement by more than 150 countries – learn more about national and local government action, and hear from global businesses that are on board with limiting carbon emissions (and how they’ll play a role for the next Conference of Parties meeting this November).

4. On Climate and Business: An article from GreenBiz covers how businesses can (and are motivated to) support local government action on climate change

5. Two EE Baselines Updates: The CPUC released a staff white paper last week, primarily in response to the AB 802’s requirement that energy efficiency programs provide incentives based on metered energy savings. Yesterday, a correction to the white paper was released, resulting in the extension of the deadline for comments.

6. Monday Clarification Call: The CPUC also announced that a conference call for clarifications will be held May 2nd.

7. Successes and Challenges in National Local Government EE: In honor of Earth Day last Friday, the ICMA has shared some key findings from their national 2015 Local Government Sustainability Practices Survey – including the two top motivating factors in local government rollout of sustainability.

8. Lowering the Energy Burden and Achieving EE in Low-Income: There’s been lots of news lately highlighting the opportunity (and the need) for pairing energy efficiency investments with low-income and underserved communities. Read the latest on program best practices from ACEEE and EDF, and see resources offered in California, here. Information on an energy burden report shared last week featuring urban areas across the nation (including 5 California cities) can be found here.

9. On-site Title 24 trainings: Trainings on the upcoming energy code are being held at no-cost at various sites in SCE territory. Click here for more information. For more on training opportunities click here.

10. Are companies responding to the market for green purchasing? Many local governments are adopting green or sustainable purchasing policies, and may be interested in a first ever impact report on sustainability in global consumer goods supply chains has been developed by The Sustainability Consortium.

11. More on green purchasing: Hear from Environmental Leader on opportunities for green purchasing in green cleaning.

12. Residential EE Opportunity Graphic: For a nice graphic to inform the community on typical home energy use and energy efficiency opportunities from HomeSelfe, click here.

13. SoCal Gas HOPPs Call: SoCal Gas has shared an opportunity to join a planning call May 5th for multifamily program offerings under the new High Opportunity Program or Projects (HOPPs). (Click here for language and the CPUC ruling on HOPPs.)

14. New National Energy Bill: Take a look at the latest (and opinions on both sides) on the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016.

15. Can’t “See” the Value of Demand Response? For data geeks, or maybe just for those that want a great visual of aggregated energy use load curves (812,000 of them) to visualize the power of demand response, click here.

16. EE RTU Action: Rooftop units (RTUs) can consume a tremendous amount of energy, and are therefore a great place to look for savings – through more efficient compressors, controls, and more. The U.S. Dept. of Energy is recognizing six companies for their retrofits and investments in high-efficiency RTUs and RTU management. Learn how they are achieving savings here.

17. Building EE Opportunities for Efficient Cities: Click here to review MIT analysis findings on how building energy efficiency can make cities more efficient.

18. Energy Management System Pilots: nine companies are joining the North American Energy Management Pilot Program. Energy Management Systems (EMS) are a powerful way to integrate energy management into existing building management systems – learn more from the U.S. DOE here.

19. Why Energy Management Systems: Looking for ways to gain support for investment in an energy management system? Take a look at these tips from EnerNoc.

20. Scoring Solar Performance: Considering solar photovoltaic (PV) investments? DNV GL has a new solar PV scorecard report you may want to review. Click here for more.

21. EV Best Practices: For those engaged in EV planning, the CEC held a workshop earlier this week to hear updates and best practices from electric vehicle project and program leads. Presentations and background are available here.

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.



That is all for this week!

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

1.  Linear, Low-Bay/High-Bay LEDs Have Greatest Market Potential

For those interested in and following lighting technology, this article with results from a study completed by Navigant Research should be useful.  To read the article, go here:  http://www.energymanagertoday.com/linear-low-bayhigh-bay-leds-greatest-market-potential-0114446/

2.  August 28 DAWG workshop on AAEE for the Demand Forecast

CPUC staff and the Demand Analysis Working Group (DAWG) will be hosting an Energy Savings Subgroup workshop to discuss the incorporation of Additional Achievable Energy Efficiency (AAEE) into the CA Energy Commission’s Demand Forecast and Integrated Energy Policy Report.
The agenda and all other information regarding the workshop is as follows:
August 28, 2015 @ California Public Utilities Commission, 10am-1:15pm
Agenda:  Additional Achievable Energy Efficiency (AAEE)
For additional details including dial-in, webinar, agenda and meeting documents, click: http://demandanalysisworkinggroup.org/?p=2466
For any questions, [please contact Aaron Lu, at aaron.lu@cpuc.ca.gov.

3.  EnergyPro 6.7 Approved For 2013 Nonresidential Performance Compliance

EnergyPro 6.7, using the simplified geometry two-dimensional (2D) option of the CBECC-COM API, is approved as an alternative calculation method for demonstrating performance compliance with the nonresidential provisions of the 2013 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards.
EnergyPro 6.6 shall continue to be valid for demonstrating compliance with the nonresidential provisions of the 2013 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards.  All permit applications submitted on or after August 17, 2015, must use either EnergyPro 6.6 or 6.7.   EnergyPro 6.5 will expire and may not be used for permit applications submitted on or after August 17, 2015.
All approved computer compliance programs can be viewed at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/2013standards/2013_computer_prog_list.html.
For more information: http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/2013standards/2013_computer_prog_list.html#nonres
(If link above doesn't work, please copy entire link into your web browser's URL)

And that is all for this week!  

What is this Term…Demand Response?


In the realm of energy efficiency the term demand response is being brought up more every day. Many business owners and/or homeowners do not know what the term means. Well let me dive in and break down what demand response is and how you can benefit.

What is demand response? Demand response, in lamens term, is when a customer gets paid for not using energy. These utility programs work to actively engage consumers in how they modify consumption, all while reducing peak demand and avoiding system breakdowns. Customers are able to receive incentives or discounts for participating in demand response programs through their utility supplier.

So how does demand response work?   For those not in the utility industry here is the cliff notes version of how demand response works. A utility offers credits to a consumer to install an automated device on an outside air conditioning unit. The utility is then able to turn the unit off at intervals of peak demand. Some individuals do
not care for the automated program controlling   their energy usage so utilities do offer other programs that fall under demand response. Other systems can detect when energy is at a high usage point, and then reduces voltage without cutting power altogether. [i]

Why is demand response important? Demand response is the country’s current answer to increasing energy demand.  By participating in demand response you are actively helping our utility grid work more efficiently. Predictions are that demand response can cut up to 15% of energy demand in the U.S. all while helping to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Oh and the savings of about 50% by only decreasing power use by 5% does not hurt either.


What’s the future of demand response?
The idea of demand response seems to be spreading faster than wildfire, pardon the phrase Californians. Automakers are now working on the idea for electric vehicles. Several utilities have run tests to see if cloud computing would be compatible in transporting a message directly to electric vehicles. The message is designed to ask that the car’s owner briefly suspend charging to boost grid stability. If the car owner agrees to participate, they are compensated for their energy reduction.[ii]

Whether you are a fan of the idea or not, demand response will be something to keep your eye on in the future. With the developments in only the past couple of years I am sure that there will be a lot more to come down the road.        


[i] “Demand Response- An Effective Program To Reduce Costs And Help The Environment”, Nov. 3,2014, http://www.energybiz.com/article/14/10/demand-response-effective-program-reduce-costs-and-help-environment
[ii] “ The Newest Demand Response Participant: Electric Vehicles”, November 2, 2014, http://theenergycolle.com/sbattaglia/2149791/newest-demand-response-participant-electric-vehicles ctive

LEDs and Utility Rebates: Save the Environment AND Cash Money!

The U.S. Green Building Council (or USGBC to yougreen-building aficionados) of Central CA chapter held a seminar at the Unitarian Universalist Church, the first LEED-certified building in Fresno. LED Lighting and PG&E Energy Efficiency Rebates Overview informed attendees of LED lighting benefits and how to work with PG&E to painlessly become more energy efficient daily. Who knew it could be so easy? 

George Burman, an electrical engineer and LEED Administrator for the UU church, began with a discussion of the science behind LED technology. I promise to refrain from getting too technical for those of you who, like me, tried very hard to understand concepts and do well in Physics, but just fail to completely absorb it. *insert ashamed face here*

Save the Environment

Unlike incandescent bulbs that produce light through heat generation, an LED has no filament. LEDs produce light by applying lots of energy to a semiconductor, which is then stimulated by the movement of electrons going from high to low energy levels. This process creates photons, or LIGHT! Voilà! That wasn’t so confusing, was it? The only process that took LED manufacturers some time to develop was “white” LED light. The semiconductors are “doped” with an element, each determining a different monochromatic color. They found that combining red, blue and green LEDs produces “white” light, which explains the bluish or yellowish (red LED + green LED) tinges we see in most white LEDs. 

Photo Source: Christmas Designers
Now for the goods: LEDs have high efficacy (lumens/watt), long life (up to 22 years), small size, and come in millions of colors. They don’t emit infrared radiation and  ̶  here’s the huge plus  ̶  they don’t emit UV radiation either! So, inks and dyes in paintings, photographs, etc. fade at a much slower rate under LED light AND bugs are not attracted to it!

Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks to incorporating LEDs into building design including the initial high cost. You also want to consider the poor color rendering index (CRI) of LEDs before replacing your existing lighting system. (The CRI determines how good colors in a painting, your clothes, etc. look under a type of light.) However, I think we can agree that the environmental pros of LED lighting outweigh the few cons, if we find integrating them to be in our budget of course!

Save Cash Money

Not this Cash Money?
Photo Source: Businessinsider.com
Jason Guenther, a Customer Relationship Manager at PG&E, concluded the evening with pinpointing effective solutions to managing one’s energy use. To do this, we first need to understand how we use energy daily. Everything from how long we use a hair dryer in the morning to leaving a toaster plugged in overnight contributes to excessive and unnecessary energy use. PG&E’s Customer Relationship Managers, like Jason, can perform audits or bill analysis. Once PG&E has adequately supplied you with information to understand how you use energy in your home or business, you can develop a facility energy management plan and implement PG&E’s recommendations, which fall under three categories: Permanent Energy Reduction, Savings by Design and Demand Response.

The first step for permanent energy reduction is to get an Energy Assessment. They are available onsite, by phone or you could even set up a DIY assessment on My Energy (who doesn’t like a good DIY project?).  Next, improve the efficiency of how something is used. For example, an office building’s AC system should be monitored. Not only are we generally more productive at a comfortable 77 degrees (see this Cornell study), but we shouldn’t waste energy turning a temporarily unused building into an igloo every night. Another solution is to purchase and install energy efficient products; you will receive rebates for doing so! You can also get money back for purchasing and installing energy efficient products through a customized retrofit (money back is determined case-by-case).

For those in commercial building construction and new building design, check out Savings By Design (SBD) Resources. This program offers incentives for new construction that exceed the latest version of Title 24. Note: DO NOT start construction before PG&E has approved your application. You won’t see those incentives if PG&E hasn’t approved you PRIOR to construction!

Finally, if you have a business, PG&E has Demand Response programs. These offer incentives for reducing a facility’s energy use during times of peak demand (hot day, statewide emergency or power plant failure). Turn things off that don’t NEED to be on during peak demand and receive an incentive? That seems like an easy choice… I do it. So should you!