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!