HURRY and REGISTER: SCE Annual Water Conference

Make sure you register today for this year's water conference at the Tulare Energy Education Center!

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

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News and Opportunities

Targeted Process Evaluation of the Local Government Partnership (LGP) Program
Research into Action (RIA), SCE's consultant preparer, has been for over a year working to craft this study to address three primary subjects: developing new useful criteria to organize and group similar LGPs for the purpose of more easily evaluating the diverse sector; shedding light on the effectiveness of LGP muni retrofits; and further building our body of knowledge on LGP strategic-plan projects. A webinar is being conducted on 11/8 (see calendar section). Comments are due November 16, 2016 via http://www.energydataweb.com/cpuc/search.aspx.

Energy Department Recognizes UC Berkeley for Leadership in Campus-Wide Energy Innovations
As part of the Obama Administration's effort to cut energy waste in the nation's university buildings and facilities, the Energy Department's Better Buildings Challenge program recognized University of California, Berkeley for its leadership in energy efficiency.

First-of-its-Kind Energy Storage Project
Advanced Microgrid Solutions and the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) launched a landmark water-energy project using advanced energy storage systems to better integrate renewable power, reduce demand on the electric grid and lower costs. The project further enables IEUA to protect its customers while addressing the link between water and the energy needed to process and transport it.

Will California Drivers Get in Electric Cars to Save $13.5 Billion?
A new report (see resource section) indicates that a shift to electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles could save Californians $13.5 billion in health and climate costs by 2050.

Have A Great Idea for Transportation in Fresno?

If you have a innovative idea for transportation for the City of Fresno check out Just Transit. They are having information meetings for more information in the coming weeks. We're very excited to tell you about Just Transit, a community challenge that will award up to $400,000 to innovative solutions that will make Fresno cleaner and more connected. Whether you're an engineer, entrepreneur, or enthusiast, Just Transit is open to anyone with a great idea and who just needs a little help getting it off  .ground Now more than ever, our cities need solutions for affordable, accessible, and greener ways of transit that meet commuters' ever-evolving needs. That’s why for the second year in a row, The 11th Hour Project has teamed up with key stakeholders in California to launch Just Transit. Our goal is simple: reduce transportation emissions while making it easier for everyone to get where they need to go. This year’s focus is on Fresno, a city that continues to expand and requires new modes of transit to ensure neither its rural nor urban residents are left behind. If you're interested in learning more about Just Transit or would like to join a discussion on Fresno's transportation landscape, the community's transit needs, and current solutions that aren't quite working, we invite you to attend one of two open houses next week. You can RSVP for the November 3 open house here or for the November 4 open house here. Thank you  The Just Transit Team Smarter transportation needs smart minds Application opens Thursday, October 27. You can read more about Just Transit and learn about eligibility and criteria by visiting www.justtransit.org. Got questions? Feel free to contact us at info@justtransit.org.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

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News and Opportunities

Local Governments Push for Strong Reach Codes
The City of San Mateo and the Town of Portola Valley are both working on adopting reach codes that go beyond the State's CALGreen requirements to help them achieve their climate action goals.

Broad Coalition Backs Enhancements to Energy-Saving Program
A diverse coalition of 19 groups is supporting a proposal to significantly enhance California's Energy Savings Assistance Program, to provide more energy efficiency opportunities for low-income households - especially underserved residents of multi-family housing.

OPR Survey: ​Streamlined Solar Permitting Ordinance 2016​
The Governor's Office of Planning and Research requests information from local jurisdictions on their progress with implementation of AB 2188, the Expedited Solar Permitting Act, Government Code Section 65850.5(g). In addition, CALSEIA and Center for Sustainable Energy are offering technical assistance to help jurisdictions implement streamlined solar permitting processes. Survey closes November 18, 2016.

Energy Globe Award
The Energy Globe Award is presented annually to outstanding and sustainable projects in the area of environment energy (e.g., resource conservation, improvement of air and water quality, energy efficiency, use of renewable energies, and recycling). Awards are presented at the national level and on the international level in 6 categories: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Youth and Sustainable Projects. Deadline for submissions is November 18, 2016.

Better Air, Indoors and Out

Clean air, whether it’s what you breathe inside or out, keeps us healthy, active and happy. Your community can maintain and expand its tree canopy, increase energy efficiency measures and program services, and convert its fleet to ZEVs (zero-emission vehicles). You can also do similar things inside your home and in your backyard. Here, we’ll discuss measures that require you to utilize your green thumb. If you’re not especially gifted in this area, don’t fret! I’ll outline some expert tips.

Inside Your Home

NASA released a Clean Air Study in 1989 that determined which indoor plants best removed toxins, reducing “sick building syndrome”. The list of these plants were originally researched to determine how best to keep the air in space stations clean, but it is usefully in homes as well. NASA recommends keeping one plant for every 100 square feet of living or office space.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

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News and Opportunities

​2016 Existing Buildings Energy Efficiency Action Plan: draft updates

The plan provides a 10-year roadmap to activate market forces and transform California's existing residential, commercial, and public building stock into high-performing and energy-efficient buildings. With the passing of SB 350 last October, the plan was updated to align with the more aggressive targets. The California Energy Commission is currently seeking comments on the draft updates. Comments are due by October 24, 2016.

Energy Department Announces New Projects between U.S. and China to Cut Emissions
The U.S. Department of Energy announced nine new energy performance contracting pilot projects that bring together U.S. and Chinese companies to boost the energy efficiency of buildings in China and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A combination of clean energy retrofits and upgrades will save the selected facilities on energy costs over the lifetime of the contracts by making them more energy efficient.

The Energy Efficiency Revolution
This article looks at the then and now of energy efficiency, looking at green buildings, smart glass, driverless cars, and cool roofs as key opportunities toward an energy efficient future.

In the Quest for Efficiency, Nothing Is More Important than Quality Measurement Tools
The bottom line is that three exciting things are happening: exacting measurements unheard of even a decade ago are now possible: that data can be crunched in "big data" repositories, usually in the cloud; and the same IoT and advanced communications infrastructure that makes the granular measurements possible gives building managers the ability to control energy use just as precisely.

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

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News and Opportunities

New Report from SEEC: The State of Local Climate Action in California
A new report developed by ICLEI through the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative (SEEC) presents a comprehensive picture of measurable local emissions trends, targets, planning efforts, and energy and climate actions in the state, along with in-depth profiles of local and regional agencies pursuing goals like public health and economic development through climate action. The findings confirm that local governments are making a significant contribution to the State's climate goals, which are among the most aggressive in the world.

The Paris Climate Agreement Is Entering into Force
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ratify the Paris climate accord, a move that will make the sweeping international agreement a legal reality long before even those who negotiated it expected. After a 30-day period, the agreement will legally enter into force on November 4th.

DOE Launches Better Community Alliance

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched a partnership that brings together public and private sector leaders to deliver energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable energy solutions that create cleaner and more prosperous communities for all Americans. The Better Communities Alliance provides local governments with integrated expertise, resources, and peer-networking opportunities from across the government, nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sectors.

Nominate Your Clean Air Hero for 2016
If you know someone in the air quality community who has made significant lifetime achievement, you can nominate them for a Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award. Since 2001, the Air Resources Board has annually bestowed these distinguished awards to individuals for their significant career accomplishments in at least one of these categories: research, environmental policy, science and technology, public education and community service.

What Has SJVCEO Been up to in September

We hope that everyone is just as happy as SJVCEO that fall has arrived and it is now time for pumpkin spice lattes and sweaters!

For the VIEW Partnership we are embarking on one of the busiest months of the year, energy efficiency awareness month. The partnership continues its long tradition of fall outreach events with hosting four outreach event within Kings and Tulare Counties. These outreach events allow us to connect with residents on energy efficiency tips as well as bill saving programs from the IOU's. We also enjoy that the partnership is able to connect with local supervisors on energy issues and betterment of local communities. Please check out VIEW website for upcoming events. We might just be in your neighborhood during the coming month. We also would like to applaud all of our partner cities and counties on their hard work over this past year. We were able to achieve the partnerships energy saving goal during the month of July. Now we are beginning to figure out the project pipeline for the coming year.

Upcoming Webinar: Helping Small Businesses Save on Energy Upgrades

Enhancing awareness of innovative energy project financing to help stimulate the California clean energy marketplace Small Businesses: Make Your Property Energy Efficient While Protecting Your Cash Flow! Free Webinar and Live Event StopWaste 1537 Webster St. Oakland, CA 94612 Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Webinar: 9.30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (PST) Live Event: 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. (PST) Complimentary hot breakfast starting at 9:00 a.m. Register Now to Attend in Person Register Now to Attend Online A panel of investment and energy experts will explore emerging financing products and program models for commercial energy efficiency projects, with a focus on the small and medium-sized commercial building sector. Speakers will give their perspectives on specific tools or approaches available to business owners to address and overcome barriers to implementing energy efficiency projects. Market research shows that businesses that improve energy use have higher employee productivity, attendance rates and credibility with their customers. Ample time will be set for questions and group discussion. Specific Topics               Leveraging the Investor Confidence Project as a standardized approach to developing Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ (IREE) projects                      New changes to PG&E’s On-bill Financing Program                                The current state of commercial PACE, and new micro-finance offerings Panel of Experts                  Matt Golden, Investor Confidence Project (ICP)                  Noah Proser, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)                  Richard Chien, San Francisco Department of the Environment Clean Energy Financing Advisory Council (CEFAC) events are for energy improvement contractors, local government staff, lending institution reps, financial experts, real estate professionals and others interested in cross-sector collaboration. CEFAC is focused on enhancing awareness of innovative energy project financing to help stimulate the California clean energy marketplace. Register Now to Attend in Person Register Now to Attend Online For more information, email ryan.carney@energycenter.org or call (858) 429-5136. CEFAC is facilitated by the Center for Sustainable Energy through a partnership with Energy Upgrade California® and the Department of Energy SunShot Initiative. Copyright © 2016 Center for Sustainable Energy All rights reserved. (858) 244-1177 www.energycenter.org Unsubscribe | Opt-Out This email sent from: {domain.address}

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

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Peer-to-Peer Requests

Opportunities to Offset Operational Costs
A rural, low-income community on the Central Coast is interested in learning about opportunities, strategies, and resources to help offset operational costs for water and wastewater. If you have any information or resources you can share, please send them my way. If you are willing to provided one-on-one guidance around pump upgrades, optimization of control systems, and other strategies, please let me know.

News and Opportunities

The World Passes 400 PPM Threshold. Permanently.
At a time when atmospheric carbon dioxide is usually at its minimum, the monthly value failed to drop below 400 parts per million. That all but ensures that 2016 will be the year that carbon dioxide officially passed the symbolic 400 ppm mark, never to return below it in our lifetimes, according to scientists.

Governor Brown Signs Bill to Strengthen PACE Protections
AB 2693 mandates the loan administrator "accurately identifies important consumer issues with the program and prescribes on-point solutions that preserve PACE's unique structure and benefits, while improving consumer disclosures and safeguards." 

California Golden Again on Energy Efficiency
California and Massachusetts both won the top spot in the 10th edition of the 2016 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Check out California's State Scorecard.