What Has SJVCEO Been Up To in June

With much of the southwest and California experiencing its first major heat wave of the summer we hope everyone is taking precautions to stay cool as well as save energy. While trying to survive the heat the SJVCEO team has been busy traveling for conferences as well as working to identify new projects that can be completed in 2016.

Some of the SJVCEO staff attended the 7th Annual Statewide Energy Efficiency Forum (or SEEC Conference) in Riverside on June 15th and 16th. This year's program was expanded to include four plenary sessions and sixteen different breakout sessions over a two day period.

This year, the forum focused on “taking a holistic approach toward a sustainable future” and how taking a full system approach to climate action and planning by understanding the interconnected and multifaceted nature of energy efficiency will better serve and create a longer term vision for our communities.
Speakers from the Local Government Commission (LGC), the Institute for Local Governments (ILG), the four IOUs (PG&E, SCE, SCG, and SDG&E), Planning and Sustainability departments from various jurisdictions, and many others spoke about current policies and programs in place that demonstrate the importance of a multi-dimensional approach that yields deeper energy savings. They also spoke to local climate actions that have allowed communities to respond to climate change more effectively and increase local and regional climate resiliency.

There were two new sessions at this year’s forum. Attendees could participate in the “Ask the Experts” one-on-one mentoring program. Experts in Finance and Funding, Regulatory Issues and Compliance, Climate Action Planning and Strategic Planning, as well as Engagement and Outreach were available for attendees to address and receive input on specific challenges. Attendees also participated in the poster session which allowed local governments partners, CivicSpark interns and many others to share their unique successes and challenges to a broader audience.

In between traveling the SJVCEO staff was busy looking through potential project listing from our energy champion partners in the cities and counties in the HDR Partnership and VIEW Partnership. We are very excited about some of the work that is being identified as well as in the works. As we say here in the office," keep the energy projects coming!" We currently do not have a lot to report in the way of projects and numbers since much of the summer is a down time for our local governments as well as our IOU partners. 

We hope to share much more exciting items with you as we make our way through the summer months. 

Stay tuned for next months update!

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. Save the Date: the Capital Region’s Climate Readiness Collaborative will hold its Quarterly Meeting June 21^st, and will feature work around developing resilient communities, including a project pursuing Living Building Certification and Zero Net Energy affordable housing.

2. EDAC Survey to Local Governments: There is a special opportunity to take part in a short local government survey (released this week) to help the Energy Data Access Committee better understand how current energy data rules align with the needs of local governments in their development of greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans.

3. Need weatherization funds? I’ve been getting a number of questions regarding weatherization funding, so I checked in with a representative on weatherization funding opportunities at California’s Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) – who shared information on three weatherization programs CSD administers to provide California with EE and solar funds – and how local governments can get involved.

4. EE and roofs: while on the topic of building envelope, a range of resources to make roofs more energy efficient (including air barriers, matching roof color to climate, and green roofs) is covered by Energy Manager here.

5. Showcasing innovation: The California Energy Commission (CEC) has launched a new Energy Innovation Showcase website to communicate and track progress on innovative projects awarded funding under the CEC’s EPIC program – with information on microgrids, innovative EE, and more.

6. Open EPIC solicitations: pre-application questions and answers are now posted for those interested in applying to the Los Angeles Regional Innovation Energy Cluster grant funding opportunity. (Or click here for more on funding.)

7. Using energy data and EMS to save: energy management systems allow for better building control, avoiding wasted energy, money, and improving building comfort. Learn what commercial real estate and municipal leads are doing to save.

8. Congratulations to the City of Oakland: Oakland was the first to use ACEEE’s new self-reporting tool to share EE policies and programs at the local level, and was found to be a top scorer nationwide.

9. EE residential savings as a financial commodity? Learn about a new method for motivating and financing residential energy efficiency upgrades that has earned a $5 million investment from the New York Green Bank.

10. Hotel EE and water management: Are hotels part of your community's energy footprint? Learn what motivates hotels on energy and water savings in a hotel survey covered by Environmental Leader.

11. EE and cost savings through VRF: Learn more about how a school is finding energy and cost savings through an HVAC upgrade to variable refrigerant flow here.

12. Advanced Energy Jobs: AEE reviews the U.S. DOE’s recent Energy and Employment Report using an energy index, and finds 2.7 million employed in advanced energy nationwide, and more.

13. New incentives for generation? A new Proposed Decision revising the Self Generation Incentive Program was released by the CPUC this week. See the major changes and get a link to the full Proposed Decision.

14. Solar+storage for multi-family: a new report reviews the economics of adding solar to storage in California’s affordable multi-family housing – and makes some interesting discoveries (which will be covered in a June 15^th webinar).

15. TDV Workshop Presentations: Those working toward zero net energy (ZNE) may be interested in reviewing the Time Dependent Value (TDV) of energy presentations now available from the California Energy Commission (CEC)’s May 12th workshop, now available.

16. Funding deadline: for those submitting to the Healthy Cities and Counties Challenge, a reminder that the deadline is May 31^st.

17. Benchmarking in the news: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and others make the news this week for energy benchmarking.

18. The latest in all-electric buses: new battery technology is changing the equation for deployment of electric buses. Learn how, and who’s moving on electric buses.

19. SDG&E EV Pilot: for more on electric vehicles, SDG&E has kicked off its $52.5 million electric vehicle pilot. Read more in the San Diego Union Tribune.

20. Who’s Coolest in Residential EE: Highlights from the Cool California Awards for top participating cities are now available! Miss which cities won Coolest Cities of 2016? Take a look at Energy Upgrade California’s April press release.

21. Job announcement: California’s Air Resources Board is hiring! Learn more about their open Air Pollution Specialist position.

22. Job announcement: the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is hiring! Learn more about their open Public Relations Assistant position.

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!