Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. California Adaptation Forum: Last call for discounted rates for September’s 2^nd California Adaptation Forum! Register for the Forum by Wednesday, August 12 and receive $50 OFF One-Day and Full Forum rates! The Forum is an incredible opportunity to connect with hundreds of climate leaders from across the state. See more opportunities, a full Forum program, Forum events, plenary speakers and partners, and more.

2. Statewide Codes & Standards Team Conference Call: The Statewide Codes & Standards team works to develop resources to help local governments consider, adopt, and measure energy-saving successes from reach codes. If you are a local government interested in learning more, and/or hearing troubleshooting and success stories from other local governments across the state, please contact the Coordinator at jdecker@lgc.org to RSVP to this call.

3. New CEC Funding for EE Tech Demonstrations: On August 1^st, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced a grant funding opportunity for Emerging Energy Efficient Technology Demonstrations (GFO-16-304), and will be holding a pre-bid conference workshop August 11^th.

4. CEC LinkedIn Networking Group for Open GFOs: Looking to find partners for the above grant funding opportunity? The California Energy Commission Networking Hub on LinkedIn has set up networking groups for the Technology Demonstration GFO, and three others.

5. Federal Gov. Energy Webinars this August: A list of August 2016 webinars is now available from federal agencies providing support on the EPA benchmarking tool Portfolio Manager, data center energy efficiency, EE financing, community resiliency through EE, resilient solar retrofits, waste management, and more.

6. What’s New with AB 802? In case you missed the July 22nd workshop held by the California Energy Commission on AB 802 implementation (Project Title, “Building Energy Use Disclosure and Public Benchmarking Program Mandated under Assembly Bill 802”), a transcript is now available from the CEC.

7. More on AB 802: Also in case you missed it: additional guidance linked to energy savings measurement was released in the CPUC’s recent decision providing guidance on Program Administrator EE business plans. (Need a refresher on AB 802?)

8. SB 350 Low-Income Barriers Workshop 8/12: The California Energy Commission conducting a workshop August 12th to gather input on barriers faced by low-income and disadvantaged communities to investing in energy efficiency and weatherization, installing solar photovoltaic and other renewable generating resources, and contracting opportunities for small businesses. This input will be included in the “Senate Bill 350 Barriers Study,” required by the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015.

9. AB 32 EJAC Meeting 8/11-12: The AB 32 Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (Committee) will be meeting on August 11, 2016 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (PDT) and August 12, 2016 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm (PDT) in Huron, CA.

10. Financing Tools for Local Gov Webinar 8/25: This webinar will discuss the various tools and products that the State of California is making available to local governments to promote clean energy projects for residents and business owners, and will showcase a new financing marketplace for finding energy project-related financing solutions. (Go Green Financing is a program under Energy Upgrade California, administered by the Center for Sustainable Energy.)

11. PACE’s Value to the Real Estate Market: Event/Webinar 8/18: This CEFAC event and webinar will explore the recent amendments to the residential PACE program, along with updates on consumer protection, regulatory changes, and market growth in California. Join the Center for Sustainable Energy for a panel discussion that will cover these topics and validate why PACE is vital to the residential energy efficiency financing market.

12. EV’s Role in ZNE: Webinar 8/17: The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) invites city and county staff, contractors, architects, and developers to a free webinar August 17^th on how electric vehicles (EVs) can help support zero net energy (ZNE) goals.

13. Energy Code Ace Webinar 8/23: We heard great feedback from local governments on energy code expert Gina Rodda’s presentation on energy code compliance tools at this year’s SEEC Forum. Now, Rodda will be teaching a “not-your-average webinar” on what’s new in the 2016 code in two sessions August 23rd.  Get the word out to your buildings departments!

14. CivicSpark Project Lessons Learned Webinars 8/23-8/24: CivicSpark is a Governor’s Initiative AmeriCorps program that provides capacity-building support to local governments to accelerate California’s response and resiliency to climate change. These webinars aim to provide a snapshot of some of the accomplishments of the 2015-16 service year, with an emphasis on sharing lessons learned and best practices.

15. New Integrative Business Model for ZNE: In the Rocky Mountain Institute’s new Insight Brief, An Integrative Business Model for Net Zero Energy Districts, RMI presents an innovative business model for developing net zero energy or ultra-low energy districts and details how pursuing net zero energy is not a cost, but rather a significant value driver.

16. EE Shows Its $ Value in SF Real Estate: As covered by BizJournal’s July 28th article, funding green upgrades is made easier as the market shows the value of and desire for energy efficient real estate.

17. California Releases Sustainable Freight Action Plan: In response to an Executive Order issued by the Governor last year, the state has released the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan, a comprehensive document that serves as a blueprint for transforming the state’s multi-billion dollar freight transport system into one that is environmentally cleaner, more efficient, and more economically competitive than it is today.

18. Energy Transition Podcast on EE: In a recent episode of the Energy Transition Show, Chris Nelder speaks to energy efficiency expert Matt Golden about raising the profile of energy efficiency, sharing that energy efficiency (looking nationally) has been disproportionately neglected considering its extreme value, and also stating that efforts to raise the profile to date have failed. Matt Golden shares some interesting food for thought.

19. Job announcement: The San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization (SJVCEO) is hiring for a Project Analyst! Learn more here.

20. RFP announcement: The City of San Jose’s RFP for Environmental Sustainability Plan Consultant Services closes August 12^th.

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 is all for this week!

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. SEEC Forum follow up: Thanks to all that attended this year’s 7^th Annual SEEC Forum! Experienced, diverse speakers and record attendees helped to make it a great success. If you attended, we are asking for your feedback through this survey to make next year’s even better. Stand by for recorded sessions from the Forum, coming soon!

2. CAF Registration Now Open: Correction from earlier this month: the California Adaptation Forum registration is NOW open! The Forum will take place September 7^th-8^th in Long Beach.

3. Benchmarking Lunch-and-Learn 6/30: Hear about the current state of benchmarking policy and join in discussion about specific impacts to local governments and other public agencies in this Oxnard lunch-and-learn held by The Energy Network and Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance (VCREA).

4. PG&E Phases Out Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power: citing a number factors, including Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) increases, energy efficiency and renewables goals under SB 350, the growth of distributed energy resources (DERs) and community choice aggregation (CCA), PG&E announced its decision this Tuesday. (Read more here.)

5. Looking for EE and Climate Funding? Over $177 Million is available for state and local government activities on coastal resiliency, health impacts of climate change, HUD Choice Neighborhoods, and more.

6. What’s New in 2016 Energy Code? BayREN’s Codes and Standards Regional Forum was held this week, bringing together local government policymakers and sustainability staff, building department staff, city planners, and energy consultants to learn about the changes to the 2016 building Energy Efficiency Standards for residential and nonresidential buildings.

7. 2016 Reference Ace Now Available: Energy Code Ace has released the 2016 version of their training tools for California Energy Code (Title 24). This is a great, free resource for building departments and professionals alike.

8. Energy efficiency and affordable housing: Finding the best strategies to bring the economic benefits of energy efficiency to low-income households is a hot topic. Learn in this article from Eco Business about case studies in Ann Arbor and Pittsburgh, a study from Energy Efficiency for All, and how to best leverage key resources like the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).

9. EDAC Meeting Recap: The quarterly public Energy Data Access Committee meeting was held this week, with significant focus on local government data access for climate action planning – a short recap is available here.

10. White House Announces Energy Storage, Green Button Analysis: Last week the White House announced a new investment in 1.3 GW of energy storage to promote a more flexible, resilient grid – and also shared plans to analyze the use of the Green Button energy data platform in the private sector.

11. Opower and Oracle on utility and energy data: his week, Oracle purchased Opower for $532 million. Hear from both companies on the value they each see in combining forces and how the utility industry is moving to a customer-focused industry, in this exclusive interview by Greentech Media (GTM).

12. Innovations in Duct Sealing: Learn what research out of U.S. DOE, LBNL and EPA has led to a transformation in duct sealing (improving air quality and bringing energy savings) in commercial buildings – with examples from Atlanta and California’s Fountain Valley.

13. Sustainable Products and Projects of the Year: Environmental Leader released its new list of Products and Projects of the Year this week. Products range from solar panels to chiller modules; programs range from Hilton’s LightStay program to Bloomberg LP’s Water Risk Valuation Tool. Get ideas for products or approaches to apply in your community!

14. EVs for Economic Reasons: In coverage from North Bay Public Media, learn about how economic considerations are the primary driver toward electric vehicles in Sonoma County.

15. Is Residential Ready for Storage? Learn best practices in making solar homes energy storage-ready.

16. New Solar Homes Partnership: Join the California Energy Commission (CEC) for a workshop on the New Solar Homes Partnership July 8^th.

17. AB 793 Compliance Guidance: In a June 10^th release, CPUC Judges have requested that the state’s IOUs propose to the Commission comprehensive, innovative, and scalable programs designed to meet the requirements of Public Utilities Code Section 717, and designed to meet the needs of consumers and the marketplace, by August 1, 2016. Learn more and get a review of AB 793 here.

18. Zero Net Energy Review: The document ZNE Evaluation Methodologies: Phase 1 – Draft Report, which PG&E contracted with TRC to complete, is now posted to the CPUC’s EE Public Document’s Area for public comment.

19. Job Announcements: the City of Thousand Oaks is hiring for two Sustainability Analysts and a Sustainability Division Manager! Learn more here.

20. Job Announcement: ICLEI is hiring for a Program Officer, Network Relations! Learn more here.

21. RFP: Lancaster Choice Energy (LCE) seeks a qualified consultant to support LCE’s development of an Energy Efficiency Business Plan for 2016. This support would include program design, budget creation, cost effective analysis, an application for funding under the ‘elect’ option to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and any required auditing and reporting.

22. RFP: Itron, Inc. – operating under contract to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) – invites qualified applicants to respond to this Request for Qualifications (RFQ), Subcontractors to Conduct Process Evaluations of California’s 2015 Local Government Energy Efficiency Programs.

That’s all for this week!