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 1^st.

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 1^st.

2016 CFCC Funding Fairs

Make sure to check out this year's California Financing Coordinating Committees funding fair!

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. AB 802 Workshop This Morning!: The California Energy Commission’s workshop to seek input on draft regulations for implementation of building energy use data access and public disclosure components of AB 802 is this morning! Get information to attend in person or by phone/online. The CEC presentation is now available through the same link.

2. FHA PACE Guidance Released: This week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced clear guidance that will expand access to renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other home resiliency projects for American homeowners. The guidance, signaled last August by President Obama and the FHA, allows residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments to interact with single family home mortgages secured by the FHA in the event of purchases, refinances, and loan modifications.

3. PACE Nation Webinar 7/26: Join PACENation on Tuesday, July 26th for the webinar "FHA's PACE Guidance Explained," to discuss HUD/FHA's recent residential PACE guidance and the White House's new initiative to broaden the scope of residential PACE. Panelists include Renew Financial CEO Cisco Devries, PACENation Executive Director David Gabrielson, and more.

4. PACE Draft Best Practices for Review from DOE: the U.S. Department of Energy has released a draft best practices document for residential PACE that focuses on best practices for program design, including protections to both consumers who voluntarily opt into PACE programs, and to lenders who hold mortgages on properties with PACE assessments; compatibility of PACE with other energy efficiency programs and services; and evaluation of program outcomes, including cost effectiveness, energy savings, and non-energy benefits such as improved health and comfort. The comment period for this document is open through August 19^th.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. Cap and trade news: On Tuesday, Governor Brown announced a plan led by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to extend cap-and-trade beyond its current expiration in 2020, to 2050. Read the plan, or get overviews from Utility Dive and the Los Angeles Times.

2. AB 802/Benchmarking Developments: California Energy Commission (CEC) staff will conduct a public workshop to seek input on staff’s proposed draft regulations to implement the building energy use data access, benchmarking, and public disclosure provisions of Assembly Bill 802.

3. AB 802 Background: A prior CEC workshop on this was March 25^th; a partial recap is available here. (Refresher on AB 802 available here.)

4. NBI’s October ZNE Forum: the New Buildings Institute’s “Getting to Zero” Zero Net Energy Forum this October 12^th-14th. Click to learn more about topics and speakers, and register.

Hands on Workshop for High School and Middle School Teachers

Summer Savings

It’s that time of year again… school’s out for summer!

Now that the kids are home for the next few months, you might see your energy bill increase especially on those really hot days when you need to be inside running the AC. No one likes to pay more on their energy bill, so I’m here to share some tips with you so you can keep cool, enjoy the family being together again and save money.

Leaving town? I’ll share some tips for the vacationers out there, too, so you can come home to a lower utility bill.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. CURRENTS Summer Edition: the Summer 2016 edition of our energy and sustainability CURRENTS newsletter is live! Get community engagement and environmental justice best practices, building technology case studies, learn about favorite energy code resources, an innovative new approach to drive residential energy savings, and more.

2. EE Coordinating Committee Update, 7/13 Meeting: The California EE Coordinating Committee (CAEECC) is meeting July 13^th: review the agenda and other recent updates from CAEECC here. You can also review presentations from energy efficiency Program Administrators, see comments from stakeholders, and more on the CAEECC website.

3. Webinar on New EE Programs 7/14: Southern California Edison (SCE) invites you to a July 14^th webinar that will provide an overview on three High Opportunity Programs or Projects (HOPPs) proposals related to Public Buildings Retro-commissioning, On-Bill Financing, and Comprehensive Commercial HVAC.

4. CPUC EE Program Evaluation Webinars 7/20: the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)’s evaluation consultant Itron is holding two public webinars July 20^th to present and receive public comment on plans for impact studies of local governments partnerships (LGPs) and Regional Energy Networks (RENs).

5. EE Financing Pilot Workshop 7/20: CAEATFA will be hosting a series of public workshops related to the commercial pilots and on-bill repayment under the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing (CHEEF) – with the first workshop taking place July 20^th.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. Prop 39 Proposed Changes Webinar 7/6: Get the word out to your schools and local educational agencies (LEAs): The California Energy Commission has initiated a substantive changes cycle for the Proposition 39: California Clean Energy Jobs Act – 2016 K-12 Program Implementation Guidelines. Learn more, review the changes and sign up for a CEC webinar to review.

2. Smart Cities Webinar 7/14: This free 1-hour webinar sponsored by DNV GL will feature two contrasting cities – Cambridge, Mass., and San Diego, Calif. – to explore on-going “smart city” initiatives that intersect with climate resiliency, clean and renewable distributed energy, microgrids and zero net energy concepts.

3. SEEC Forum Plenaries online: Miss this year’s SEEC Forum? You can hear from the CEC, CPUC, SGC, OPR, environmental justice leaders, and energy and climate specialists in recordings of the SEEC Forum plenary sessions. Visit the EECoordinator.info main page for descriptions and Youtube links.

4. New Energy Efficiency 101 resources: As Coordinator I hear about the need for 101 resources from beginner and veteran local government energy leaders alike. Whether its due to staff turnover or transfers, or the wealth of rapidly evolving information on energy best practices in California, it helps to have some introductory resources in one place.  Check out a new (and growing) page of Energy Efficiency 101 resources and presentations on the EECoordinator site – and feel free to request additional information.