The Newest CURRENTS is out!

Issue 96 | Spring 2017 An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments CURRENTS is the Local Government Commission’s free quarterly newsletter providing local elected officials and staff with current information on energy issues affecting California local governments. On the Path to an Advanced Energy Community Santa Monica has received funding for their Advanced Energy Communities project, focused on turning the “City Yards,” into a microgrid. Link to Article The Signs Are Clear: Data is the New Tool for the Energy Efficiency Field Access to granular data can help California achieve its energy reduction goals and save consumers and business time, energy, and money. Link to Article Moving Forward with Electric Vehicles By 2016 nearly 230,000 Zero Emission Vehicles including fully electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell electric vehicles were registered in California. Link to Article Climate Investments Payoff for the San Joaquin Valley Climate investments benefit the San Joaquin Valley rather than being a detriment to the Valley economy. We review a report released by Next 10. Link to Article Want more CURRENTS- SUBSCRIBE HERE Please feel free to pass CURRENTS along to friends, associates and others who you think would be interested.     Copyright © 2017.  Local Government Commission.  All rights reserved.  STAY CONNECTED

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UPCOMING WORKSHOP: ZNE for Local Governments

Join a no-cost workshop to learn how to prepare for California's ambitious goals for zero net energy (ZNE) buildings.*

On behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission, New Buildings Institute will be hosting four no-cost workshops in California in 2017 covering ZNE topics for both local government audiences and those working to retrofit existing buildings to ZNE.  *A ZNE building generates as much energy as it consumes annually through clean, renewable sources.

ZNE for Local Governments  June 13, 2017 | 1:00-5:00 pm Fresno, CA This four-hour workshop is designed to give local government staff the information, tools, and confidence to create and drive progress toward zero net energy goals. Case studies show how cities can be leaders within their own public building portfolios by creating a clear code and policy roadmap, and by transforming the market through public awareness. We will review how to achieve climate goals through ZNE pilot projects, deep energy retrofits starting with municipal building benchmarking and portfolio analysis, ZNE codes, financial incentives, ZNE recognition, and other tactics. In addition to sharing examples of successful plans and ZNE-ready policies, small working groups will develop their own ideas utilizing training materials. This workshop will be held in conjunction with the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative Forum: lgc.org/caseec/seec-forum/. Who should attend: Local and state government staff including planning, facilities, and building staff, as well as architects, engineers, contractors, consultants, and others interested in ZNE are encouraged to attend. Space is limited, so please register and reserve your spot today. For more information: newbuildings.org/municipal-workshops/. Meeting location:  Doubletree by Hilton Fresno Convention Center 2233 Ventura Street Fresno, CA 93721 (559) 268-1000 The published group rate in the DoubleTree Hotel booking system is $132/night- however, to make this event more affordable to attendees, the forum organizers are buying down the rate to $107/room night (+ taxes and fees). lgc.org/caseec/seec-forum/ 4 AIA LU|HSW CEUs are available ZNE for Existing Buildings August 23 | 1:00-5:00 pm  Commerce, CA This four-hour workshop will outline best practice steps and approaches to comprehensively enhance the energy performance of existing buildings to ZNE. The workshop will investigate retrofit opportunities in individual buildings as well as how advanced benchmarking can help prioritize opportunities across a portfolio. We will review technologies, approaches, processes as well as portfolio project prioritization methods. Case studies of building strategies and technologies will be presented including advanced strategies a design team can take to achieve ZNE on an existing building. The training will address operation and maintenance considerations, including energy monitoring for ongoing building performance. This event will be held in partnership with the Net Zero 2017 Energy + Water + Waste Conference: verdicalgroup.com/net-zero-2017/. Who should attend: Local and state government staff including planning, facilities, and building staff, as well as architects, engineers, contractors, private sector owners, commercial real estate professionals, consultants, and others interested in ZNE are encouraged to attend. Find out more: newbuildings.org/existing-building-workshops/ Meeting location: Net Zero Plus Electrical Training Institute 6023 S. Garfield Avenue Commerce, CA 90040 (323) 221-5881  4 AIA LU|HSW CEUs are available These events will be facilitated by New Buildings Institute in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission. Additional 2017 workshop dates to be announced soon.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

1.  The CEC adopted the AB 758 Action Plan 
Adopted on Wednesday, September 9, an important step to meeting state goals to double energy savings in existing buildings. It also establishes a new Local Government Energy Challenge, which will fund implementation of existing best practices and the development of new innovative energy reduction strategies. Click here for more information.

2.  The CEC released 3 funding opportunities
Opportunities aimed at addressing non-technical barriers in the successful path to clean technology commercialization (see list below). Learn more at http://www.energy.ca.gov/contracts/epic.html. The CEC is holding public pre-bid workshops on 9/15 in Oakland, 9/16 in Fresno, and 9/22 in Lynwood.

- Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development Initiative ($33M to support early development of promising new energy concepts)
- Regional Energy Innovation Cluster ($20M to 4 regions - SF Bay Area, Central Valley, LA, San Diego)
- Connecting Emerging Technologies and Strategies to Market Needs and Opportunities ($7M to undertake market assessment to optimize future EPIC investments).

3.  Local Government Commission seeks Statewide Local Government Energy Efficiency Best Practices Coordinator
The Coordinator facilitates a statewide focus both in gathering exemplary policies and practices, and tracking progress on a statewide level on government facility and community energy use, retrofits, and strategic plan metrics. Application deadline is October 2nd. Learn more at http://www.lgc.org/statewide-local-government-energy-efficiency-best-practices-coordinator.

4.  OPR seeks comments by October 12
Comments will be about the Preliminary Discussion Draft or Proposed Updates to the CEQA Guidelines. Comments may be submitted to CEQA.Guidelines@resources.ca.gov.

5.  Early-bird registration open for 2015 ACEEE Intelligent Efficiency Conference
Event will bring together people from the IT, telecom, energy efficiency, utility, solution provider, policy, and energy consumers sectors to share and learn how information and communications technology can improve the use of energy. Learn more and register at http://aceee.org/conferences/2015/ie#Registration.

6.  New Reports to check out:
- California's Manufacturing and Benefits of Energy Efficiency
- California Climate Policy to 2050: Pathways for Sustained Prosperity
- Achieving California's Greenhouse Gas Goals: A Focus on Transportation
- State & Regional Carbon Pricing & GHG Regulation under EPA's Clean Power Plan

7.  Click here to view a calendar of energy-related events.
The calendar is currently being developed and will be updated on a weekly basis. If you have any events you would like added to the calendar, please send details to statewideenergycoordinator@lgc.org.

And that is all for this week!

Webinar Planned To Help Cities Achieve Benchmarking Mandates

Benchmarking, which helps achieve substantial energy savings by establishing objective energy-performance measurements, is a way for state and local governments to slash their energy bills, which collectively can reach $10 billion per year.

The performance measurements help governments set goals, boost energy efficiency and monitor ongoing progress. Now, local governments can learn more about benchmarking by participating in an Oct. 27 webinar sponsored by the Local Government Commission through Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative. It is the 8th of 15 webinars focused on helping local jurisdictions increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases.

The webinar will feature a discussion of AB 1103, which requires energy-consumption benchmarking of all non-residential buildings in California beginning in 2012, and the disclosure of that information to prospective buyers. So, cities and local governments need to learn how to benchmark right away.

Local case studies of benchmarking in the San Francisco Bay area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California also will be highlighted. The webinar begins at 2 p.m and will adjourn at 3:30 p.m.

Participants can register or learn more here at the Local Government Commission web site.